Fallout 3  Life in the Wasteland
by ReDragon1976
Summary: About to restart this story, need help with a proof reader / ideas bouncer and someone to help with research, mainly based around realism and the DC area.
1. Beginnings

Hello fellow fanfiction fans

.My first fanfic here, going to be ongoing, and may be a while between chapters, RL does intrude at the most inconvenient times.

Anyway, as per the summary, going to be largeish, following the basic storyline, with new characters, and tweaks to old ones, new scenarios, possibly new locations, romance in the future, but not for a while and o course lots a violence that we know, love and expect from fallout :D

I wanted this to be a story of the wasteland as a whole, not just focused on the LW, with more fleshing out of selected characters, and to do that, for at least a while, the chapters are going to be around the same length that they have been, and the story is going to proceed at the pace of a day or in instances a scene equating to a chapter.

Most of those who are reading this will have played the game and IMO, the LW could not come out of the vault and be a cold blooded killer for a start, not to mention that life in the wasteland is not life in the vault, and that there has to be a period of re-adjustment, both mental and physical, both in relation to his willingness to kill, as well as his ability to kill in addition to the daily life changes, i.e. radiation around every corner, water being a highly valued commodity etc.

The LW is therefore going to grow as a character as the story progresses changing from a vault dweller into a wastelander, with all that that entails.

Hope you enjoy the first chapter, please review, would love any comments, suggestions, critiques, feedback or just weather you liked it or not, as this is my first fanfic ever.

OOOOOOOOOO

Stepping through the rough wooden screen that served as the semi hidden entry way to the Vault, Alexander was forced to tightly close his eyes, although even that proved not enough to stop the pain that had exploded into his brain as the dazzling bright light assaulted his sense of sight. Slamming his hands over his eyelids helped to damped the glare that was piercing his vision enough so that after a few minutes he was able to crack his fingers open and squint through them to try and accustom his eyes to the new world that was spread out in front of him.

To the right, a wall of rock rose above, with a small dead bush a little down the path that existed between another, smaller rock wall on the left. Scanning left, he saw what could only be a tree, albeit long dead, and probably rotten, it was still the tallest plant he had ever seen, the ones in the vault being tiny in comparison to what this one must have been in its prime. Near by the dead tree, was another smaller, though just as dead bush.

Looking out from the elevation that the vault exit had deposited him on, the next thing that Alexander saw was what could only be a pre-war water tank. It was the most immediate object that drew the eye, standing on six posts, it must have risen 50 feet above the ground,. Then the sky. The sky! Alexander could feel the awesomeness of the sky threatening to overwhelm him, it seemed to be everywhere, and while it was not the bright blue that the history vids had shown it to be in the vault, but rather a duller, faded blue, it still seemed endless. The orangish / white fluffy things in the distance would be clouds, a part of his brain that wasn't dumbfounded supplied. Then in the further distance, a tall spire caught his attention. It seemed to be square, but with a pyramid on top of it,

Immediately in front, but at a lower elevation, Alexander saw a barren landscape, filled with rocks and dirt, with very few signs that a civilized people had ever been there, but then as he started moving forward down the path, his attention was drawn to the left and a panorama of decaying building filled his vista.

"_Amazing_" He thought to himself "_This is incredible, fantastic, unreal_"

Moving his feet in an almost somnambulant way, Alexander began to make his way down the path, but paused before following it all the way down to step off to the left onto a ridge that afforded a magnificently horrid panorama.

"_What the hell is that_?" He wondered to himself, looking over a few skeletons of houses at a large red rocket, much like the ones he had seen on computer monitors in the vault that had been described at space travelling vehicles.

Alexander couldn't think, but could only stare dumbly over the scene that was laid out in front of him. Minutes passed, hours? He wasn't sure how long he had stayed just looking at a view no-one from the vault had ever seen before his father had left less than 24 hours ago.

"_Did dad stop and stare at this view_?" He asked himself, a question which jolted Alexander out of his revere and refocused him. The next fact that slammed home was that the sky was getting dark, he could no longer see the tall square pyramid topped spire in the distance, and he cursed himself for his lack of self control, and the situation that he had gotten himself into.

"_What now idiot_?" He asked himself. "_A safe place to rest, to wait until daylight, time to make plans, and scope out more of the immediate surrounds, food_." he answered himself.

A large white almost full globe had risen in the pre-night sky. "_The moon, a thing of beauty in what is supposed to be hell_." Alexander thought.

Wrenching his eyes away from the moon, his gaze came to rest yet again on the water tower, and an idea began to form, a smile creased his face.

Active now, and moving with an objective in mind, Alexander started off down the path again, aiming for the water tower, and the possibility of safety that it presented. Stepping off the small hill that the vault had been buried in, he began walking over a solid, back surface, and almost immediately found a steel cage on wheels with an opening in the top.

"_Perfect, this'll help_" He told himself, and after righting the contraption onto it's three remaining wheels, began unloading the few pieces of spare vault guard armour and helmets, batons and pistols that had come with him out of the vault into the wheeled cage.

Following the black top path way to the north seemed the best option, as there was a pool of water which was giving off rads according to his pipboy to the south, and so pushing the trolley, Alexander set off, following the path north and around and down to the east, towards the rocket he had seen earlier. After a few minutes, it occurred to Alexander that the trolley was not all it seemed to be, having a mind of its own as to which direction it wanted to go in, and any little bump in the path tended to immobilise it.

"_It's a battle of wills_." Alexander told himself, as he pushed the damned trolley ever onwards towards his objective. Eventually making it to the bottom of the small hill that he had begun on, dismay set in as he saw the water tower was not going to be reached by way of the black topped pathway, and sighed mightily as he began to unload his few belongings and trudge towards the tower.

After a few minutes Alexander reached a wire fence that surrounded the tower, and quickly located the gate the let him in to examine the structure. Opening the gate, he walked around the base of the tower, noticing that there were a few missing pieces of metal in the supporting legs, and that the whole had a red, dusty, flaky tinge to it. Picking at a length of steel, Alexander was surprised how easy a small sliver flaked off in his fingers.

"**_Rust_** : A general term for a series of iron oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Given sufficient time, oxygen, and water, any iron mass will eventually convert entirely to rust and disintegrate." The voice in his head told him, in perfect imitation of Ian Mitchell, his engineering instructor back in the Vault. Ian has been a guiding light to Alexander, along with his father and Jonas, guiding the young Alexander into reading about a variety of subjects, learning as much as possible about as many different subjects as interested him, from a variety of different views and sources. Alexander had spent a lot of time with the vault engineer instructor, mainly when his father and Jonas were working, as a young boy was a distraction and a potential hazard in the situations that Jonas and his father worked in on a daily basis.

Ian was also responsable for the basic working knowledge Alexander had of Mnemonic memory enhancing techniques, having given the young boy groupings, acronym's and link systems to work on and explained the principle of the memory palace to him. Alexander had been fascinated by the idea of having a room full of objects in his mind, that he could lock knowledge, trivia, and scenes to and visit whenever he wanted to, and had, with the guidance of Ian, with approval from his father, who also used mnemonics, began to construct his memory palace. His palace was an old abandoned storage room on the engineering level of the vault, in which he had started placing items from daily life in the vault, then spending hours visually memorizing the layout, until he was able to recall the exact image at will. Rust had been placed in the memory palace after he had left a screwdriver lying in a small puddle of water that had condensed on the outside of the bottle of Cola he had been drinking while working on a small radio, a project Ian had set him to try to diagnose what was wrong with it and fix if he could. Alexander had been careless and rushed out of the workshop at the 5 pm buzzer, racing to meet Amata for a promised walk through the Vault's arboretum.

Returning after the 3 day layover that had been part of his working cycle, Alexander had been confronted by Ian, and the screwdriver that had flecks of surface rust on it and told to learn about rust, and its detremintal effect on steel, and to place this knowledge in his memory palace. The screwdriver was never placed in the vault's storage room, but became the first item to be stored in his mind without the need for visual stimuli to access the knowledge.

" _Looks stable enough_" he thought, but gave the posts that held it up as much of a shake as his body could manage at the moment, tensing in case the whole lot came crashing down on top of him. The ladder the led to the top of the tower seemed to be sturdy as well, with only the occasional rung missing, and as the light was almost completely gone by this time, Alexander decided that this was as good a place as any. He put on the jacket that Butch had given him over the security armour that he had donned in the vault over his jumpsuit, tucked a baton into his belt next to the 10mm pistol holster, put on the security helmet, slung the small bag of personal items that he had brought with him over his shoulder and put his foot on the first rung, and began to climb, reasoning that he could leave the rest of his stuff hidden behind one of the concrete feet that the posts of the tower were embedded in.

About 20 feet up the ladder, and with the last of the daylight just about gone, the wasteland that was Washington D.C. gave him his first taste of the extremes that it could go to, whipping up a brisk breeze that had a definite chill to it. It whipped his deep red hair that ended just out of the helmet he was waring, and seemed to penetrate his clothes and go straight to his bones, making him shudder. Almost to the top, and the wind had picked up speed, and Alexander reached for the next rung, gripping it just as the rung he was stepping off gave way, and dropped him to a jarring halt at arms length, both legs dangling.

"Damn it, shit, friggin hell!" He cursed out loud, as the rung clanked it's way down to the ground. Wriggling his legs, lifting them trying to find a rung for his feet, he quickly glanced down, and remembered that his feet were at a section of the ladder that were missing about 5 rungs in succession. Gritting his teeth, and groaning with the effort after a long day, Alexander dragged his body up the next few rungs with arm strength only until he could get a foot hold, which brought him almost to the top of the tower. With a last effort, he hauled himself over the edge of the tower onto the top, and lay on his stomach, breathing heavily, panting for a few minutes, waiting until the adrenaline rush that had spurred him over faded, and he trusted his body not to fall over if he stood up.

Finally, pushing himself up, Alexander stood up and looked around the top of the water tower. It was slightly domed, and he quickly found a circular, hinged opening with a convenient handle to open it up. Putting both hands on the handle, and lifting proved not an easy option, as after years of disuse, it had almost sealed itself shut completely. Straightening up and groaning, he cracked his knuckles and bent his back to the task once again, a low expulsion of effort, along with a quiet expletive escaped his lips until finally with the squeal of metal on metal, the lid cracked an inch. After a short spell, Alexander got back up, put his fingers into the crack that he had achieved, and started to lift again, with the metal screeching even louder this time, and causing his ears to ring, and his head to pound, but he persevered until the opening was wide enough so that he would be able to wriggle his way into the interior.

Pausing again to catch his breath, it belatedly occurred to Alexander that the noise he had just made must have been heard far and wide, and that perhaps stealth and speed might not at this moment be a bad idea. Following that thought, he scrambled back to the opening he had just made, and using the light on his pipboy, poked his head and arm into the interior of the tank and finding what he had been hoping for, a dry, completely empty round room that would suit his purposes for the night. Pulling out, and entering feet first this time, Alexander lowered himself to full arms length and with the light from his pipboy still glowing, saw that the floor was less than a foots drop so he let go.

Landing on the metal floor, Alexander once again sunk to the floor, his legs no longer able to support himself. Then the shaking began, starting with his hands as he tried to open the backpack that Amata had given him before he left, and compounded by thoughts of Amata, the vault and his father, the shaking flowed through his body, followed by great wracking sobs that came from nowhere, but now that they were let loose, flowed freely. Images of his father flashed through his mind as he curled up in a ball, still shaking with the strength of the emotions pouring out.

OOOOOOOOOO

**_Elsewhere_**

The old man sat in his soft padded chair, patting his silver hair down. It was a habit, not a nervous habit, no, because the old man made people nervous, but was not subject to nerves himself. Across the small table between them, a young blond woman in her mid twenties sat, with legs crossed and arms folded beneath her breasts, staring straight at the old man. If she was suffering any nerves herself, the old man thought, she was hiding them well.

A smile creased its way across his features as he thought that, and he leaned forward to pour another whisky shot for himself and his guest.

"Hmmm, drink up my dear, here's to our agreement, and the beginning of a long... association between us."

The blond woman kept eye contact for a few seconds after that last comment, wondering when he was going to try and get into her pants, and how she was going to be able to resist throwing up all over him if he did try it.

"_'Association' , God I hope he means only that and he's not really seriously thinking about anything like that."_

The woman thought to herself. _"I don't need some ancient old fart who probably can't even get it up slobbering all over me at this point, just the caps for this job, than I'm done with this "association""._

Realizing that she had been silent for too long, and that he still held his shot glass raised and full, the woman leaned forward and picked up her glass.

"To our association." She replied, and tossed the fiery amber liquid to the back of her throat, trying to avoid the burning of her tongue that came with drinking not only spirits, which she normally avoided, but slightly irradiated spirits at that.

"So where is the package that you want me to deliver then, I want to be getting prepared to move out tomorrow?" The woman asked.

"Ah, the haste of youth," The old man commented, "Very well, I actually have a couple of packages I wish for you to drop off my dear. One goes to... "

"Two? The deal was for one old man, if your gonna change the job I came to do without prior knowledge, it's gonna cost you more you know." She butted in, not really caring for this last minute change of plans. Her eyebrows pinched down, as she frowned at the man in the chair across from her, aware that she was showing a degree of anger, and also acutely aware of the presence of an armed man standing at the door, now a little more straighter and focused on her for her outburst.

"Hmmm, very well then, I will add fifty percent to the agreed on price then if you insist, would that be acceptable?" He responded, languidly waving a hand in the general direction of the guard, who on his signal relaxed a little, but kept his eyes on the blond woman, and his hand near his sidearm.

"Double." Was the woman's only reply, trying to maintain eye contact, though it wasn't easy with this man, because while he looked and talked like a grandfather, she knew him to be ruthless, quite able to wield a blade and very willing. Not including his willingness to pay others to preform his dirty work, which according to rumors was why the tent town that had grown up around the ruins of Girdershade had been burned to the ground fifteen years ago. Quietly she wondered if she had overplayed her hand and tried to soften her glare, while still maintaining eye contact with the old man.

"Hm hm hm hm hm hm" Chuckled the old man, smiling toothily at the woman, imagining just what it would feel like to wrap his hands around that pretty smooth throat and to choke the life out of the pompous bitch. For a few seconds he considered signaling his guard to restrain her while he did just that, but rejected the idea, she could be useful for now, and still be fodder for his desires later, after the mission had been completed.

"Seventy five percent, and not a cap more my dear," Was what he actually said, pausing a moment, waiting until she opened her mouth before continuing "I advise you not to push the limits of what I am prepared to tolerate ... My dear."

Choking on the eighty five she was about to respond with, the woman smoothly tilted her head forward and to the side, in acknowledgement.

"Agreed then, seventy five percent above the agreed price, for two deliveries instead of one. Now where are these packages and where do you want them delivered to?" She asked, wary that she may have stepped over a line, and wanting to be elsewhere at this moment.

Still smiling, the old man again waved at his guard, noticing as he did so that she visibly tensed up, looking like she was thinking fight or flight. "Relax my dear, I am not going to have you murdered, mmm, you are willing to provide a service for me, and killing you now would mean I would have to wait for another willing carrier, mmm and that is a waste of time that I am not prepared to make. I can be gracious in success you know mmm.

While the old man was talking the guard had leaned back and knocked on the door, a signal, for almost immediately it opened, and a man stepped through with a tray, which he placed on the small table between them, cocking his head towards the old man and hefting the whiskey bottle questionaly, and on receiving an affirmative nod, poured another pair of shots in to the glasses before setting the bottle down and moving away, to take up position to the left and behind the old mans chair.

The woman looked at the tray, seeing a small six by four by three inch package wrapped in old faded paper, some with words still legible under the grime, and an envelope. Looking up with a steady gaze, the woman locked eyes again with the old man and raised an eyebrow.

"So, a package and a letter," The woman said "Which to where, and to who?"

Leaning forward and picking up the envelope the old man turned it over in his hands, revealing a red wax blob covering the fold of the envelope. "Take care not to let this open my dear mmm,"

He again smiled at the woman, and she felt her skin crawl, and wished this interview or whatever it was was over and done so she be on her way, she had people in her own life that she actually wanted to see, and spending time with this ancient abomination was draining her.

"If this letter arrives at it's recipient with this seal broken, I am afraid I cannot vouch for your continued safety my dear, and as it is the first delivery, I am concerned that my second package will go undelivered, so take care with it, you understand me?" A curt nod is the only response received so he continues. "There is a woman in a small settlement of Andale, you know where that is I presume, mmm?" Another nod and the man continues, "Her name is Martha Wilson, and the letter goes to her and only her. You must confirm the identity of Martha Wilson by asking her the name of a decent eating establishment in Megaton, and getting the correct response of 'The Brass Tavern' before handing over the letter."

Placing the envelope on the table the man taps the paper wrapped package. "This goes to an associate of mine in Megaton. To make contact with my associate in Megaton go to an establishment called the brass lantern every evening when the sun is nearing the horizon, and wait for someone to engage you in conversation. My associate will mention being from Andale, and will mention a woman there by the name of Martha Wilson, calling her 'an old hag'. This is to ensure that my package goes to the right person. Do you understand all those instructions?"

Dumbly staring at the transformation the old man had undergone, from grandfatherly to focused all business like in relaying her instructions, the woman was again surprised by the different faces the old man could seemingly adopt and discard at will. Mentally shaking herself, the woman realised that he was waiting for some kind of response.

"Yes, completely. Neither seems to be a problem, straight forward delivery run." She managed.

"Excellent. Now if you are interested, on arrival in Megaton and delivery of the package, my associate may have work for you in the town, work which will be paid for by my associate, but any order's he gives, if you chose to continue to work for us, must be obeyed as if I gave them. You do not have to answer now, rather think on my proposition, and wait until you arrive in Megaton to make your decision."

Again the woman nods. "_Ha, not friggen likely old man, once I drop these packages off, as far as I am concerned any 'association' between you, your 'associate' and me is at an end, and not soon enough."_

"Good, good." The old man nods, seemingly satisfied with the results the meeting has had, the toothy smile re appearing on his face, he reaches down to the table and picks up his glass. "Again to our association, may it be long and prosperous for us both my dear hmmm." Again wishing for anything but whisky in her glass the woman leans forward and picks up her glass, raises it in toast to their 'association' and throws the liquid to the back of her throat.

"With the drink burning it's way to her stomach, the woman slowly rises, still aware that there is an armed guard behind her, and another man, though acting the part of servant, probably as skilled in weaponry as the guard behind the man and stretches he arms above her head. "Well, now that we have an agreement, I feel the need for some sleep before today becomes tomorrow. Do I take the packages now, or pick them up before I leave in the morning?"

"You can take them now, my dear, as well as full payment in advance, the agreed amount plus seventy five percent." Waving the servant forward the old man speaks again "My man here will supply payment before you retire for the night. Hmmm, goodnight my dear."


	2. A New Day Dawns

Hello fanfiction fellows.

So here's chapter two for your consumption, hope you all enjoy. I've started on chapter three already, and with any luck should be up in a few days, but no promises.

Please leave a review, or even just a few words, would love to know what people are thinking about it so far. Whether or not people like it or not, and also, hows the length of the chapters, suggestions are welcome, how's the writing style, words of encouragement are always welcome :D and will take on positive criticism a well.

One thing I am really interested in finding out is what you are thinking about the speed that the story is progressing at.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Goooood Morning Capital Wasteland. It is I, Three dog, your Lord and Master here, though I doubt many can here me this fine glorious day in downtown D.C. as some super fuglie mutants shot down my relay dish yesterday, so I doubt the good word is being transmitted very far, but never fear kiddies, three dog and the brotherhood of steel are looking for an answer to your unheard question "three dog where are you". So if you can hear me wastelanders, pass the word, three dog will be back, transmitting to the whole wasteland as soon as possible, bow wow wow. But for now, some music, the Ink Spots, with 'I don't want to set the world on fire', but kiddies, if you ask me, and even if you don't, the title should be 'I don't want to set the world on fire, just some super fuglie muties'. Owwwwwww

OOOOOOOOOO

The sun had risen over the large scrap metal, steel and tin walls that surrounded the town of Megaton, already beginning to heat the air though it was only a couple of hours past dawn. Colin Moriarty leaned on the railing that ran along almost all of the elevated cat walks linking the various houses and businesses of Megaton, sipping from a morning cup of coffee from his personal stash and smoking an early morning cigarette. Below him the atomic bomb that gave Megaton it's name sat peacefully at rest in the crater it had created when it landed in the capital at the time of the great war. Glancing slightly past it, Colin noticed that The Brass Lantern still wasn't open yet, which was strange, but had been happening more and more lately, with Jenny Stahl's early morning absences. Colin smiled slightly to himself, thinking it funny that although most of the town knew that 'Sheriff' Lucas Simms and Jenny had been screwing lately in the only empty house in Megaton, they still arrived and left the house separately,

Over to his left, that lunatic Moira Brown walked outside in that jumpsuit that she actually managed to make look sexy, stretching her arms, and drinking her own cup of coffee, expensively purchased from Colin. A moment later that sweet as sugar Maggie, Colin spit over the catwalk, joined Moira, rubbing sleep from her eyes and leaning up against the wall of Moira's shop, slowly sliding down to a sitting position, as Billy Creel walked out side in a pair of pants with no shit, and surprisingly no eye patch, a hollow eye socket glaring, that Colin had never managed to find out how he had lost, much to his disgust. Billy bent down and kissed Maggie on the head, before picking her up in his arms and walking over beside Moira, and saying something to her that made her break out in that goofy grin of hers. Colin shook his head. "_Go play happy fucken families, idiots." _He thought to himself.

To his right, the Vanya couple had risen, the smell of early morning cooking coming from Manya's kitchen confirmed that, strange that they hadn't made an appearance outside yet though, they were usually some of the first outside in the mornings, especially during these last summer days when the heat from the sun felt good on old bones. Old bones, Colin grimaced, his were getting old too he thought, and the sun did feel good on his back.

Down and to his left, the door of Doc Chruch's Clinic opened, and the Doc and that 'Doctor' Hoff walked out talking between themselves, probably going to The Brass Lantern for breakfast, Colin thought. That Doc Hoff, he better have Moriarty's shipment this time around, his stash of chems had been slowly dwindling lately since it had been a while since 'the good doctor' had been though here, and with Doc Church refusing to sell perfectly good chems to Colin, well he was Colin's only supplier, pity he was also selling directly to Leo Stahl as well, Colin could have broken that upstart fucking eatery that was his only competition in this forsaken town if he didn't.

Finishing his coffee, and yet still not ready to return to his saloon, Colin yelled out for his right hand man. "Johnny, coffee, and don't let the fucken ghoul near it either!"

Lighting another cigarette, and bending back over the rail after the first drag produced a coughing fit, Colin straightened up, running his hands through his white hair and smoothing it back down, and wiped the water running from his eyes on the back of his hand. Looking back around Colin noticed that Moria and Billy had gone back inside, and the two Docs were indeed seated at the Brass Lantern, still yakking away and waiting for Jenny to show up.

Just to their right, the house that 'Mister Burke' had purchased was locked up tight, with the man having even covered the windows over, so either no one could see out, or as Colin suspected, no one, sheriff's in particular, could see in. Mister Burke was a strange one he thought, and one to be watched as well, preferably by the sheriff, though he was so cunt struck it was difficult to know what that prick was going to do at any given point lately, thought Colin, his mood gradually getting sourer.

Here comes Pip Miller, the night watchman, off duty now that Stockholm had shown up and relieved him, at least he would be the first paying customer for Colin, as was his usual routine after coming off watch to down a few vodka's in quick succession before wandering off to sleep in the common rooms for the day. Not the worst of ideas really, Colin thought, the caps saved by not buying a house meant that every week, regular as clock work, Pip and Nova would spend the night together in one of the upstairs rooms, a luxury that Pip wouldn't have been able to afford on the pittance the town paid him to be a watchman if he had bought a house, and since he slept during the day, he generally had the common room mostly to himself.

"Johnny, where the fuck is my coffee?" Colin yelled, patience that was not his strong point anyway wearing thin.

Returning his gaze to his empire, Colin noticed a fine mist coming from a join in one of the water pipes down to his left, another fucken problem from him to sort out. "_Where the fuck is the sheriff when you need him?" _Colin thought to himself. _"For that matter where the fuck is my coffee?"_

"Johnny!" Colin yelled again, just as the large man walked out through the open door of the Saloon, carrying a mug which he handed over to Colin, taking the empty mug and heading back inside without a word. Returning after a moment to take up position leaning against the outside wall of the Saloon, hand behind his back, and eyes lidded, awaiting his next summons.

"Look at this shit would ya Johnny." Colin said to him, pointing to the spray of water issuing from the water pipe. "Soon as old Walter makes and appearance, go get him and show him this, I've spent too much money on water to be letting it run every where like that."

"Sure thing boss." Was Johnny's reply. A solid man Colin thought, and not just because he was a large man, because Colin knew he had a brain on him, it was that he didn't seem to want to be a leader type. "_At any rate, Johnny's loss was my gain_." Colin thought, because the large man was loyal to him, proved over many throat slitting missions that Colin had either sent him on, or that he had helped Colin preform being not un accustomed to wielding a blade himself when the need arose.

"Morning Mister Moriarty." Pip Miller spoke as he neared Colin, touching the brim of the hat he wore as he spoke, "Johnny, hows things?" he said as he walked past them and in the door of the Saloon. Colin only hrumphed, but Johnny returned his greeting.

_""What is this happy brahmin shit?" _Colin thought to himself. Looking straight ahead at the now open gates of Megaton, Colin spied that prim and proper Lucy West coming in, mixed with the homeless who slept around the wall outside once the gates were closed for the night. _"_Johnny, what the hell is that West woman doing outside the gates?" Colin asked his right hand man. Not really expecting an answer, he continued his private musings,_ "She didn't just slip out this morning, the gates have only just opened," _He thought to himself_. "So what exactly was she doing outside last night that kept her from returning to her own home? A guy?" _That didn't seem likely to Colin, because though she did frequent his bar, she had never taken any guy home with her that he knew about, and why would she fuck on the the dirt when she had a perfectly good house?

Colin's musing were interrupted at that moment though, as a single gun shot sounded from directly across the crater from Colin. Standing straighter, Colin asked over his shoulder to Johnny, _"_Where would you have put that shot coming from Johnny?"

"Well sounds like straight ahead, so I'd say probably Jericho's place boss_." _Johnny answered his boss, pulling his hair back from his face and trying a small band around it in a tail to keep it out of his eyes.

_"_Well, lets hope he wasn't taking the easy way out, I got use's for that prick yet_." _Colin replied_._

Just then a dark skinned man stepped out of the un-owned house that was almost directly opposite Moriarity's Saloon, adjusting his long overcoat as he did so, and checking to make sure his sidearm was where it should be. Simms._ "_This fucken piece of work," Colin said out loud, "So caught up with that badge, his dick and that Stahl woman's pussy that he's just about in another world eh Johnny?" Not waiting for a response, Colin shouted out. "SHERIFF"

Lucas Simms, stopped in his tracks, turned to glare at where he knew Moriarty stood looking at him. "Lucky trouble didn't appear earlier eh sheriff?" Colin called, "Might have caught you mid thrust amid other affairs!"

Simms now turned completely around, and still looking straight across the crater at Colin, stood with a hostile look on his features as if he was contemplating going after the man at that moment.

"You would NOT want to be looking at me like that." Colin called out at Simms, taunting.

"Be where I can find you." Simms replyed, before stepping off again, heading towards Jericho's house, while Shon Buanno, the towns third and last watchman sprinted around and up the hill behind Simms, catching up to the sheriff just a few feet from Jericho's door.

"I ain't going nowhere." Colin said in a normal voice once again, turning around and walking back into his saloon, "You want a dick's attention? Kick the fucker right in the nuts." Colin said, mainly to himself as he walked around the bar and into his office.

OOOOOOOOOO

Heat, as intense as the heating generator in the vault woke Alexander up, sweat soaked clothing clinging to his body, and his hair sticking to his head. For a moment he looked around himself at the stark metal walls, and wondered where he was, until reality slapped across the face, and the horror of the last fourteen hours slammed into the forefront of his brain.

The sound of the vault door clanging shut in his mind made him shudder again, as it had not so long ago, memories of Amata rousing him from his room, where he had returned to after spending the day in the depths of the vault, shooting targets with the BB gun his father and Jonas had given him years ago. His father fled outside the vault? Jonas dead? The overseer calling for Alexander's arrest on unspecified charges?

"_Dad, why did you leave me? Why? Amata, this can't be happening... Dad? I hoped... WHY? Amata, I love you. Why does the Overseer want me arrested? What... Oh my God, I killed a man in the vault, who? The overseer? No, someone else..."_

Hugging his knees and rocking gently, tears started falling from Alexander's eyes, as thoughts and emotions poured out. Amata walking with him the last few meters to the vault door, holding his hand, telling him he must go for his own safety, neither of them mentioning the word love, now to his regret he would never be able to tell her how he had felt for her. Would never know if she felt the same.

The tears fell silently this morning, his mind number than it had been last night, for a few minutes, before slowly drying up and stopping. Wiping his face and eyes with his hands, Alexander slowly stood up, mentally fatigued, and thought he had only just woken up, the effects of sleeping on a steel floor had left his body feeling stiff and sore in a number of places.

"_Time to get out of here before I roast."_ He thought. Moving with the thought, Alexander picked up the tunnel snakes jacket that Butch had given him and that he had used as a pillow the night before, and slung it over a shoulder, then grabbed his shoulder bag, slipping the helmet, baton and 10mm gun into it before slipping it over one shoulder, and moving to the hatch in the roof. Because he had been un able to close the hatch last night, it was a simple matter of a small jump, and catching the rim with his hands, and pulling himself up level with the roof, having to close his eyes as the unbearable glare assaulted his sense of sight, rendering him temporarily blind. He managed to pull himself up onto the roof of the water tower with his eyes shut, and get into a sitting position.

Now that he was on the roof of the water tower, Alexander felt a slight breeze, and came thanks for that small mercy. Water his body screamed at him, with his brain chiming in as well. _"Water, need to keep myself hydrated." _He thought to himself, the knowledge coming unbidden to his mind.

_An average fit human can survive, on average for three days without water, or H2O, if you assume an average temperature and humidity, but in warmer conditions as well as colder ones, the need increases. Typically, an average person will lose about three liters of water a day under the afore mentioned conditions. Therefore, again typically, a person needs three liters of water in perfect conditions, but, in extreme situations, up to six liters a day may be required to keep dehydration at bay. Insufficient water leads to dehydration, symptoms of which include, lethargy, headaches, dizziness, confusions, a reduction in endurance levels, and it also impairs concentration, which in emergency situations, can be the difference between life and death._

His fathers voice, delivered in a lecture to the vault youths during a lecture about vault emergency procedures about five years ago.

Thoughts of his father and the vault threatened to overwhelm Alexander again, but he pushed those thoughts aside, concentrating his mind on nothing to regain his focus. Pulling the bag off his shoulder, he delved into it in the hope that Amata had put some water in it before she had handed it to him. Feeling around, he cracked his eyelids a tiny amount, trying to get them used to the glare even as his hands felt not one, but two of the plastic containers that were used in the vault for those times when workers would not be able to return to the dining hall for meals, due to working in the more remote areas of the vault.

"_Ahh, thank you Amata. You are a wonderful, thoughtful woman." _He thought, even as he popped the top off the bottle and brought it to his mouth, tipping his head back and drinking about half the bottle before stopping. "_Argggh, better than the coldest cola."_ Alexander thought.

Mentally weighing the bottle, and from the size of it, he judged it to be one of the one and a half liter bottles, and with two of them, that meant that he had to find more water, today, as soon as possible. Putting the bottle back in the bag, Alexander felt around to take stock of anything else that Amata might have slipped in for him, and quickly found the rectangular container. Pulling it out, and holding it up to his eye, he identified the watery reconstituted gruel that was every vault dwellers breakfast. Ripping the lid off, and using his fingers as a spoon, Alexander shoveled the gruel into his mouth, relishing the normally boring meal.

Finishing his breakfast in minutes, Alexander pulled the bottle of water out, and drank it down to it's last quarter, before returning it to his bag. Opening his eyes a little more, he found he could actually cope with the glare a little better now, but while he still wasn't ready to open his eyes fully, he started emptying his bag, taking stock and seeing what supplies he had available. the result was slightly depressing. One full bottle and one quarter bottle of water, sum total one and three quarter liters. "_Not good."_ He thought. One empty container that until recently had held gruel, one bobblehead that had sat on his fathers desk in the vault ever since Alexander could remember, a small first aid kit, which would probably last one minor accident. "_Ah, now this might be useful." _He thought, pulling out two soft bags with needles and tubing attached, "_Radiation Purger, excellent." _Setting them to one side with the kit, and returning to his search yielded a small bottle of pills, the label of which said: Water Purification tables, one per liter. A quick look in the bottle showed about 8 tablets, _"So that should get me through the next few days."_ Alexander thought to himself.

The next thing he pulled out of the bag almost caused Alexander to lose control of his emotions again. "_Grognak the barbarian, issue 14."_ Amata had given it to him for his tenth birthday, and it was still in pretty good condition, "_What's this?" _He thought, spying a sheet of paper sticking out of the comic, "_Don't tell me it's falling apart."_ Pulling the piece of paper out of the comic and looking at it though, he realized that it wasn't part of the comic, but rather a sheet of paper that he had seen every day of his life in the vault since he could remember, the words etched into his brain, with no need of mnemonics to recall.

.

_**I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Revelations 21:6**_

Putting the page reverently back between the pages of the comic book, Alexander resumed his search. Pulling out the tin of BB cartridges, Alexander considered them, without the gun to go with them they were a bit useless, but they weighted next to nothing, so he decided to keep them.

With that thought, a memory from yesterday cleared, and swam into focus. Security chief Hannon had confronted Alexander in the Atrium of the Vault.

"Stop!" He had shouted, and in his hand was a pistol, a 10mm, much like the one that Amata had given Alexander, but that was now tucked into the pocket of his jumpsuit, his BB gun in his hands.

"Don't move kid, I don't want to have to shoot you, but I will if I have to." He had said, walking closer to Alexander. "Give me the gun, then turn around." He had said, and an idea born of desperation had clicked into Alexander's mind.

Taking his right hand of the stock of the gun, and grasping it by the barrel he had let his arm drop down to his side, still holding the barrel, waiting until Hannon was closer, then suddenly, and with all his strength behind it, he had swung the gun up and around, feeling satisfaction with the meaty thud that had resulted when the stock meet with the side of hannon's head. The security chief had been staggered by the blow, and was totally unprepared for the next blow, the one where Alexander had grasped the barrel in both hands, lifted it above his head, and brought it crashing down over the top of Hannon's skull, dropping the man like a rock, and leaving him unconscious on the floor, a small trickle of blood oozing from the top of his head, and running onto the floor.

Smiling with satisfaction at having bested the security chief of the vault, the smile faded as Alexander looked at the gun, now broken and bent, totally beyond repair. "Shit." He said aloud. "Shit, Shit, SHIT!" The present from his tenth birthday party, from both Jonas and his father was now useless. Throwing it to a corner, Alexander took a short run and sunk his boot into the unconscious form of Hannon, venting some frustration on the mans body.

Back in the present, a sad smile crossed Alexander's lips, impressed with his own ingenuity, but saddened by the loss of a link to his past.

With that, Alexander had found the sum of his inventory, and after replacing everything in his bag, decided to stand up and have a look around.

Looking back West, the way he had come the previous night, Alexander could see the hill and path that he had taken once he had walked out of the vault. "_That way is closed forever, stop torturing yourself."_ He thought to himself, but took a moment to visit his memory palace, moving to a small piece of fabric, torn from the leg of Amata's jumpsuit a couple of years ago in a mechanical workshop that the youths had been assigned to clear, it brought to his minds eye Amata's face, the dark brown hair, not in it's customary ponytail, but loose and hanging past her shoulders in smooth waves, the deep brown eyes that could make a person feel like they were the only person in the world who mattered to her, her full cheeks, with skin that was so smooth. The perfectly formed nose, that wriggled when she was thinking. Sighing, Alexander left his memory palace and returned to the present.

As he couldn't see past the rise of the top of the hill, Alexander discounted that way an immediate route, and turned to the North, his gaze immediately locking in on what must have been a largeish expanse of water, looking as it did from this distance like the small irradiated puddle that he had found last night at the bottom of 'vault hill'. Between where he stood on the top of the water tower and there, he noted what must have been a community of houses before the war, with mostly burnt out shells, all that remained. Looking more intently, a seemingly un-touched house also seemed to be amongst the ruins, and it was on the way to the water, so it could bear investigating if that was the best option.

Looking around to the East, with the sun burning holes into his brain via his eyes, Alexander quickly ruled that direction out, as all that there seemed to be in the immediate area were rocks, dirt, rocks and more rocks, which in his current state, would probably lead to injury, something to be avoided, and therefore not an option.

To the South, was a curved wall of what glinted like metal or steel he decided, that had to man made, but it was too far away to make out any particulars, let alone if it was inhabited or not, and even if it was, a passage from a history vid book came to his mind

_So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss._

_If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose._

_if you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself._

Sun Tzu, The Art of War, written two thousand eight hundred years ago, but apparently still regarded as one of the most important pieces of military tactia up to the time of the bombs, even if it had been by a Chinese, the thinking was that at least they weren't communists back then.

It seemed to Alexander that while he knew himself, an important part of which said that this was not his element, he had absolutely no idea about who the people were in this place, what they were like, how they would treat a stranger, especially one as ignorant as it would be obvious he was, and therefore, for the time, large groups of people should be avoided until he could learn a little about his new surroundings.

With these thoughts in mind, Alexander returned his gaze to the North, to the expanse of water in the distance, and the at least semi intact looking house that was between here and there. "_Looks like North it is." _He thought, and with that, found that his eyes were not hurting as much now, and he could almost fully open them.

Moving to the edge of the tower where the ladder was joined on, Alexander lay down on his stomach, swinging his legs over the edge, he wriggled his way backwards, feeling with his legs for the first intact rung of the ladder, and finding it, began to make his way down, arriving without incident this time on the ground in less than a minute. Picking up the extra front and back pieces of vault security armour he had stolen on his way out of the vault, and tucking the two extra batons into his bag, Alexander clipped the two spare helmets he had also left at the foot of the ladder the night before onto the straps of his bag, then began to make his way back towards where he had left his nemesis of the previous evening.

Arriving at the black top pathway, Alexander thought about the problems he had with the three wheeled contraption the day before, and thought,. "_I'd be better off not using it, with the trouble it gave me yesterday, but if I could find something to tie these pieces of armour together and work a strap like my bag, it would be much easier to carry them."_ Discarding them was not an option in his opinion. If history lessons had taught him anything, it was that nothing was for free, not even in the vault, where people were put to work at as early an age as possible so they could contribute to the whole, and therefore earn their keep. That fact was probably even more pronounced out here, where the technology of the vault was not available, and therefore, anything that might be used to barter for supplies was a necessary.

Turning East, the road stretched ahead of him, the wreak of a vehicle of the opposite side of the road, outside a burned out hulk of what was once a house. Another burned shell was opposite it, as well as one beside it, as he was standing between a rock formation and the shell of a house, Alexander moved towards a hole in the wall of the house next to him, hopes of finding something to use as binding in mind. Hopes that where to be dashed, as one look at what once would have been a home, showed only dirt and destruction. The same was true of the house across the road, although there was a bathtub present, amazingly still intact, though somewhat buried under a couple of inches of dust.

The house next door held a surprise, in the form of a safe. It had a keyhole, but without a key, Alexander just noted it's presence on his pipboy, before leaving it and looking diagonally across the road a the fourth house, spying a couple of cases on a concrete slab outside the perimeter of the house. Moving slowly and trying to keep cover between himself and everything else, Alexander looked all around him, keeping watch out for any movement, and nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice blared out form his left.

"This is your president John Henry Eden. Hello my beautiful America, it is time we had a talk. Lets talk about government..." The voice faded a little, and Alexander saw a round, floating robot go past, and head East, the words coming from a speaker attached to it. "Damn me." Alexander whispered to himself. Having a last look around, and seeing no more movement, Alexander stood up and sprinted across the open road, to the fourth house, and the case's outside the perimeter. Arriving at the case's, Alexander then noted a pair of doors set into the ground. Moving to them, he saw a large steel lock joining them together, and sighed, making another note, before thinking to himself. "_Don't get to complacent Alexander, locks usually indicate owners, and I don't think I want to be around when they come back. The lock is obviously far more recent than the war, so lets have a look at the cases and get the Hell outta here."_

Moving back to the cases, and opening them both, Alexander shook his head in disappointment, both were empty. Sighing, and shaking his head, and giving the surroundings a quick scan, his gaze returned to the cases, and their interiors. "_That's some form of plastic or rubber." _He thought to himself, "_That will do the job."_ pulling out his vault pocket knife, and selecting the blade, Alexander quickly cut strips from the interior. When he felt he had enough, he had one more look around the area, and sprinted back up the road to where his had left the pieces of armour, between the first house and the rock formation.

Squatting down and gathering the pieces up, he began looping the straps that he had cut around he armour, and was about finished when he belatedly heard a crunch of movement behind him, a second before he felt a metal object pressed up against the back of his head, and to his ultimate surprise, a woman's voice spoke, "Don't fucken move or I'll blow your head off, who the fuck are you, and what the fuck do you want? What the fuck are you doing here?"

OOOOOOOOOO

Hope you all enjoyed the second chapter, please take the time to drop a few words in a review, even if it's only to say that you like it, or hate it.

I am interested to know people opinioins about the speed the story is progressing, I know that it has been slow going so far, and at this point, I don't really have plans on speeding things up, rather I was going to continue as I have begun, and would love feedback on that respect.


	3. Silver and Eye

Hello fellow fanfiction-onions

So, chapter three here, hope it is enjoyed.

Need reviews, so I know that people are liking where I am going and the path I am taking to get there. I am of two minds about the speed that the story is progressing at.

I wanted this to be a story of the wasteland as a whole, not just focused on the LW, with more fleshing out of selected characters, and to do that, for at least a while, the chapters are going to be around the same length that they have been, and the story is going to proceed at the pace of a day or in instances a scene equating to a chapter.

Most of those who are reading this will have played the game and IMO, the LW could not come out of the vault and be a cold blooded killer for a start, not to mention that life in the wasteland is not life in the vault, and that there has to be a period of re-adjustment, both mental and physical, both in relation to his willingness to kill, as well as his ability to kill in addition to the daily life changes, i.e. radiation around every corner, water being a highly valued commodity etc.

Any way, first and foremost, I hope you enjoy.

Please review, adding your comments, even if it is only weather you like it or hate it, your opinion, which is valued, what you think of my plans for the future of this story as outlined above, any constructive critisism and or suggestions.

Also thanks to those who have reviewed so far.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Don't fucken move or I'll blow your head off, who the fuck are you, and what the fuck do you want? What the fuck are you doing here?"

The words, spoken by a woman shocked Alexander, with what had to be the barrel of a gun pressed up against the back of his head, he also found his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. "_Shit, Shit, Shit."_ He thought, "_What do I do now?"_

"Get up", the voice ordered, and Alexander realizing that he had very few options but to obey, rose from his squatting position, still with the feel of a gun barrel on the back of his head. He knew he had to to as he was told, at least until he knew what he was dealing with. "Turn around, slowly, one suspicious move, and I'll blow your brains out the back of your skull." Turning slowly, his hands held spread and horizontal at stomach level, Alexander got his first look at the woman who had snuck up on him, and the medical training he had received from his father automatically clicked in.

"_Height - approx 170 cms, Weight - approx 65 kgs, Hair - blonde / platinum, Eyes - hard to tell, probably hazel, though very bloodshot, Age - mid to late twenties."_

"Right, keeps those hands just where they are, now who are you?" The woman demanded, the gun trained on Alexander's face waved slightly.

"My name is Alexander." He replied, making sure to keep to a polite tone of voice. Alexander suspected that this woman was under the influence of some kind of mood and or mind altering drug, maybe alcohol, but he didn't think that was the case.

"Yeah? Well what are you doing here, Alexander?" The woman asked him.

Thinking for a moment before answering her, Alexander decided on an abridged version of the truth. "Well ma'am, to be honest with you, I am only passing through here. I spotted a body of water of in the distance to the North, and I was heading that way as I have very little in the way of water, and I was just looking around for anything that may have been of use in these ruins."

"Humph, nothing of any use in these ruins kid, Megaton's picked this place clean over the years." She responded, seeming to relax a hair. "And the water your referring to is irradiated to Hell and back, and tell me something, what are you calling me ma'am for?"

"Where I come from, it's considered a polite way to address a woman when you don't know her name."

"Oh yea? And exactly where is it you come from Alexander?" The woman asked.

"_Shit, shit, now what?"_ Alexander asked himself. But before he could respond, the woman spoke again.

"Your from the vault, ain'tcha kid?" And smiled a pleased smile at the look of shock on Alexander's face as he was unable to conceal his surprise at being identified so easily. "Alright, the look on your face tells me I've hit the nail on the head, so I don't guess Colin sent you for me, and you don't look exactly like a hard ass raider, so I'm gonna lower my gun, but don't try any shit with me, kid, or I will shoot you, got it?

Dumbly Alexander just stood and after the words had sunk in, nodded, then shook hid head in confusion. "No, I'm not really a hard ass raider, who's Colin, how did you know I was from the vault? How did you know about the vault? Who are you?" Alexander managed to get out, though his mind was reeling in confusion. "_The vault is supposed to be secret, how did this woman know about it?"_ He asked himself, still wary, she seemed to know too much for his liking. "I won't try any shit, as you say, but.."

"Ehh, don't worry about it Alex," She cut him off, "Firstly, my name's Silver, and I think you should come with me, we can talk at my place, it's getting to about the time when those pissant raiders will be starting to get active, and we would do a lot better if we're out of sight when they start wandering around. Follow me, it's this way." Pointing to the North, in the general direction of the semi-intact house that Alexander had spotted a little over an hour ago, she started walking in that direction.

Pausing for a moment to clear his head, Alexander quickly bent and picked up the armour he had tied together and slung the loop over his shoulder alongside his bag, and hurried after Silver, catching up and falling into step beside her, and walking in silence for a few feet before she spoke once again. "I realize you got a bunch of questions Alex, but for both our sakes, concentrate for now, raiders are using the old school building over there on the right as a base to pick off caravans, and two people are gonna be easy prey if they spot us ok?"

Alexander looked the way she was pointing, and, looking past the ruins of house's that mostly finned his view, saw the largest single structure he had ever seen so far. It was an imposing sight, even though it looked like the roof had caved in, and a corner had crumbled at some point in time.

They had just come out from between the two house's that were close together on the opposite side of the road from where Silver had first ambushed Alexander, with the house that Silver had mentioned just up ahead to the right, with another couple of wrecked vehicles between here and there, when he spoke. "Just one thing, what are raider's?" Alexander asked quietly after a few seconds.

"Raiders are scum," Silver answered. "Rapist's, murderer's, conciousless mother fuckers, who'll kill you just for fun, and some of them are even cannibals, now shut up til we get to where we're..."

Before Silver could finish the sentence, a new male voice butted in, "You boys hear that? Well I know we be rapist's and murderer's. but you gone and hurt ma feelings by calling us cannibal's bitch."

Grabbing Alexander by the arm, Silver turned around and shouted "Run!" Following her own example, she took off, sprinting for cover in the house on her right, Alexander spurred into motion buy her arm pulling him, only a few steps behind her.

Inside the ruins of the house, Silver quickly redrew her gun, taking cover against the North wall, and peering over it before quickly dropping her head again. "Fuck me." She spat, "We're fucked." Looking at Alexander, who had taken cover against the wall on the other side of the hole where the wall once was, the hole they had just run through, she noticed that at least he wasn't going to pieces, and her eyebrows actually raised a little as he pulled a gun that was larger then her own from a pocket of his jumpsuit under the jacket that he was wearing.

Alexander cautiously leaned up against the wall, and carefully looked around the corner of the wall, to his dismay, spying at least four people walking cautiously towards them from the direction of the house that it seemed was Silver's. They were wearing some outlandish clothing Alexander thought, until it occurred to him that it was a combination of armour and clothing. Three of the 'raiders' seemed to be carrying pistols, but one had a long barreled gun, and he was the furthers one from them. As he watched, the man with the long barreled gun, brought it up to his shoulder and it seemed to Alexander pointed it right at his head. Before Alexander could react, the man had obviously pulled the trigger, because he heard the bang, and felt the splinters of wood pepper his neck where the bullet had hit the wall beside him, and gone straight through.

"Shoot these fuckers Alex!" Silver yelled at him, bobbing up and clearing the section of wall she was crouched behind, bringing her gun up at the same time and blasting away madly at the advancing raiders.

Alexander mentally shook himself, and holding his gun in both hands, stepped quickly out into the open, taking aim at a raider with a bald head about 30 feet away from him, and squeezing the trigger twice before ducking back into cover.

The raiders laughs filled the air as seeming all at once, they opened fire, with repeated shots busting through the scant cover that the walls of the ruined house provided them. Looking across the gap, Alexander saw Silver cringing with every bang that echoed from the raider guns, a look of pure terror on her face. "_Shit, I wonder if I look as scared."_ Alexander thought, preparing for another volley.

Suddenly the world went loud, with a huge explosion filling the air, and robbing Alexander of all hearing. Shaking his head to recover his equilibrium, he ducked back out into the gap, taking aim at where the bald headed raider had been moment ago, and surprised to find him laying practically at his feet, not more than 4 feet in front of him, laying face down with a large, jagged piece of metal sticking out of his back, covered in blood. Slewing around, Alexander noted in passing that the man with the long barreled gun was also down, laying about twenty feet away, clutching at yet another piece of steel jutting from his stomach, obviously moaning, but not audible above the ringing in his ears. One of the wrecked vehicles seemed to be the origin of the blast, as there seemed to be less of it in one place, and a lot of steel spread around in front of him, and the fact that what was left was smoking gave him a clue also.

Even as he looked for the last two raiders, a man's hand grabbed his gun and pulled it out of his grip. "_He_ _must have been up against the house, just waiting for an opportunity."_, Alexander thought, trying to move out of the way as the mans gun rose up as if in slow motion. Just then the gun was level with Alexander's face, "_Shit, I'm dead."_ He thought, tensing, waiting for the bullets impact even as he tried to fall back out of the way.

Suddenly though, the back of the man's head seemed to explode in a shower of blood, bone and brains, his arm falling to his side, and the gun falling from his grip to bounce on the ground, before the man slowly fell lengthways back onto the ground himself, eyes staring vacantly and a small hole in his left cheek. Spinning around, Alexander saw Silver, wild eyed with gun extended towards where the man had been, a small wisp of smoke curling from the barrel. "Fuck you, you fucker!" She screamed, standing up and aiming at the body, she pulled the trigger again and again, bullets pummeling the dead man before the slide of her weapon jammed open, her magazine empty, while her finger kept trying to pull the trigger.

Gently Alexander reached out to touch her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly, but also reorienting her, she looked at him in surprise, then smiled, before horror spread across her features once again. Alexander saw the look of horror, and heard Silver scream, "LOOK OUT!" Her arm rising to point behind him, but before he could move, something smashed into the side of Alexander's head, making the ringing he was already suffering from worse, and adding an explosion of pain, as well as knocking him full length to the ground, blackness claiming him.

OOOOOOOOOO

_**MEGATON**_

Billy Creel counted himself lucky. He had been unemployed after a caravan guarding stint between Paradise falls and Tenpenny tower, and he was casually making his way towards the River, planning to call on the hospitality of an old friend who had set himself up in an old building there. That's when Fate stepped in, leading his footsteps a few hundred more paces that night, until he crested a small rocky outcrop, thinking to use it as a lookout point to scan for a place to camp for the night, and finding the remnants of a wasteland family that were obviously on the move, their belongings spread over a small area where the raiders had strewn them in their search for plunder.

Quickly jumping off the rock, and crawling on all fours around it, Billy scanned the area more closely this time, spying two dead males, one with his guts hanging out of his belly, and the other, younger one with his throat slit. Crawling forward a bit more, almost to the crest of a lip that precipitated a drop of about twelve feet to a rocky mini canyon, he spied the first raider, an empty bottle still clutched in his hand, eyes closed, but still breathing, therefore cataloged as passed out. A further advance to the lip and a quick poke of his head over the edge showed him the second raider, this one still awake, but with his own bottle, sitting opposite the first, with a small fire burning between them, with a piece of meat on a spit roasting over it.

About five feet from the fire, the naked body of a woman lay, one arm bent at an impossible angle, her legs still spread and a large piece of what looked like a tree branch protruding from her, covered in blood, which had run down and mixed with the sand beneath her.

"_Fuck me_." Billy thought. He had seen some things in his life, debauched parties of caravan guards, with two men fucking one woman, women who could fit there own fist into themselves and other, more disturbing things, including cannibalism, but death by impaling was new to even his jaded soul, and although far from a Saint himself, he didn't like what his eye were showing him.

Pulling his old trusty Browning 9mm that old Erik Kessel, Tenpenny towers resident master of arms had recently modified for him, adding a large and bulky silencer to, out of his backpack, Billy had lined up the head of the still awake raider, and squeezed a single shot off, the action making barely any more noise than a puff. While the noise was tiny, the result was worth the cost, the raider dropped his glass, and slowly keeled over to his left, the only evidence that he had been shot a small hole in his right temple.

Looking to see weather or not the other raider had roused, Billy was happy to see that he didn't seem to have moved, and was still breathing normally. Keeping his gun trained on the sleeping raider, he stood up, slowing and carefully made his way slightly to his right, the drop off the rim slightly lower there, and the landing seemed to be sand. Jumping down, and landing easily, Billy checked his quarry once more, intending to interrogate him in the hopes of avoiding more raiders on his journey.

Keeping his gun in hand, Billy silently moved towards the raider, swiftly grabbing the shotgun that was lying next to him, and positioning it behind himself, before putting his gun down and drawing his knife from it's sheath on his belt. It had been his experience that people talked more freely when confronted with a knife at the throat then a gun to the head, the fear of a slower death by knife often loosening their tongues.

Bending over the still sleeping raider, Billy, knife in his left hand, reached out and placed the blade inches from the man's throat, grabbing a handful of hair in his right, and jerking his head back, exposing his throat. The man's eyes shot open, almost completely blooshot, and as Billy moved the knife in closer, he realized the man was not as disorientated as he should have been, with his own right hand flying up to grab Billy's left forearm, preventing him from holding it at the man's throat for advantage.

As they both looked into each other's eyes from less than a foot's difference, Billy let go of the mans hair, meaning to use it to punch the man in the face, but reacting faster, the raider's left hand hand sprung from no-where, flying into Billy's face, clawing at the right side of his face. Brushing the man's arm away from his face, and balling his fist, drove it into the the side of the man's face.

Billy's face was being clawed at again, and suddenly pain filled his world, as two fingers from the raiders hand found his right eye, digging into the socket and twisting before a thumb joined them, and then the pain doubled, as the raider squeezed his fingers and thumb together, crushing Billy's eye as he pulled it out of the socket.

A scream rent the gathering darkness then, a primal sound issuing from Billy, seemingly coming from the depths of Hell. Staggering back, tears springing up in his remaining good eye, he watched as the man stood up, and picking up Billy's own knife, turned with a cruel smile and stepped towards him.

"I'm gunna gut you, cunt, then I'm gunna cut your heart out and eat it you fucker." The man said, advancing. Billy still reeling, felt a rock clip his boot heel, and crashed onto his ass, right hand cupping his wounded eye. his left hand, out to cushion his fall as best he could, landed on a metal object, "Gun!" his brain registered through his pain, and closing his hand on it, brought it up, aimed at the man's chest, and without hesitation, fired three quick shots in succession. The bullets impact sent the man staggering back, knife dropped and forgotten, both hands up clutching his chest, he opened his mouth to speak, to deny what had happened, something, Billy never found out what, as instead of words, blood poured out his mouth, running down to mingle with the blood seeping out of the holes in his chest, before the man pitched face first into the dirt.

Groaning in pain, Billy had slung his pack off his back, and digging in one of he outside pockets, pulled out a small case. Opening it took both hands, which were shaking badly, and with only one eye, he struggled to make his hands actually connect with what he was reaching for, a small metal syringe with a cannister nestled beside it. Pulling both out, Billy jammed the needle of the syringe into the bottle, drawing the plunger back to the make which said five, and then dropping the cannister, jammed the needle into his right arm, depressing the plunger all the way almost immediately, and sighing as the first soporific effects took some of the pain away.

Pulling the needle back out, Billy replaced it in it's case, along with the cannister which had 'MED-X' written on it, closing the case and replacing it in his pack. It was then that he head the whimper, and looking at where the first raider that he had shot was laying, noticed a young girl, arms tied to her sides, laying on her back, head twisted to look at him.

"You killed them." She had said.

"Yes, I did, what's your name darling?" He had responded, feeling the effect's of the Med-x now more strongly, his head feeling lighter, and the pain more of a sting than the fire it had been.

"Maggie," The girl had replied "They killed my parents." Her eyes started to glaze over, tears beginning to form

"They did Maggie, I'm sorry." Billy replied, getting slowly to his feet, and after retrieving his knife, cutting the bonds from around the girl's arms and feet. "It's ok Maggie, I'm not gonna hurt you," He had said to her, noticing how she cringed when the knife had been near her. "Did they hurt you?"

"No mister." She had said, silent tears now running down her cheeks.

Shaking his head, Billy continued down the catwalks of Megaton. He had found empty cannisters of Jet next to where the man had been laying, which accounted for the speed of the man, costing him his eye. That had been almost eight months ago, and Billy had gotten used to the missing eye now, a slight smile appearing, Hell, he had even gotten used to Maggie calling him daddy on occasion.

The relationship with Moira was, he had to admit to himself, 'nice'. While far from inexperienced with women, it was a new experience exploring his feelings for a single woman on a day to day basis, rather than the one night stands or the pro's he had paid for company over the last six years that he had been a caravan guard, a source of income that no longer appealed. The fact that she had a voracious sexual appetite didn't hurt either, Billy chuckled to himself.

If only this new business idea that he had begun working on in the last week panned out, then life would be as good as it could be in the D.C. wasteland, and returning home need not be considered. The idea had occurred one evening, reading one of Moira's few books; a fast reliable courier service, starting in the Capital wasteland, delivering packages, news, and anything else that needed to be elsewhere. If it took off, then who knows, the sky could be the limit.

This was also the reason that had gotten him moving this morning. Like the previous two days, he made his way towards The Brass Lantern, hoping that today would be the day the carrier of the package that was supposed to be delivered to him there would show up, so he could complete his link in the chain and receive payment. Payment that was going to pay for the organization of supply dumps, and scouts from the refugees from the slums around the wall to map routes between Megaton and Rivet city first, then to Tenpenny tower. Hopefully the idea of a carrier that could make the trip in half the time or less that the caravans made the same trip would be providing a service that should be lucrative.

Shaking his head to dispel thoughts, he greeted both Doctors's Hoff and Church, both of who had agreed the idea was a good one, medical supplies often being traded between the major settlements as a glut came to one with scavengers, while they were urgently needed in another.

_"Doc Church has been a good friend." _Billy thought, sitting down beside them and turning his head to join them in conversation. He had been the first doctor Billy had found after he meet Maggie, stumbling into his Clinic with a rag tied over his eye, the doc had worked first, asked questions next, then deferred payment until Billy was ambulatory two days later, and able to sell off the weapons and trade goods he had gotten from the raiders, as well as taking Maggie under his wing, giving her a place to stay and working with her grief over losing her parents for the next month. "_He could have just helped himself to most of the good stuff I got off them," _Billy thought, _"and then who knows what would have happened..."_ The caps he had gotten from both Moira for the weapons, and Moriarity for the large amount of alcohol and smokes the raiders had with them had been sufficient to pay for Doc Church's services as well as having enough left over to keep them for the last eight months.

The attack by the Raiders only five days after they had arrived, and his willingness to fight beside the residents of Megaton had seen reward in the form of a small shack that had been owned by a man named Darryl Fendley, who had been shot in the stomach and lived for three agonizing days before finally dying, his screams issuing from Church's clinic had given Maggie nightmares for weeks afterwards. "_But that's all in the past,"_ Billy thought, turning as his peripheral vision caught a flash of blonde hair, as a woman sat in the chair next to him with a warm "Hello there."

OOOOOOOOOO


	4. A Crow's View

Hello fellow fanfiction-ites

Here's my next installment, hope it is enjoyed.

Please review so I know that people are liking where I am going and the path I am taking to get there, adding your comments, even if it is only weather you like it or hate it, your opinion, which is valued, what you think of my plans for the future of this story as outlined in previous chapter intro's, any constructive criticism and or suggestions.

Also thanks to those who have reviewed so far.

I have to address one thing while I am here, and that's a review I got about the LW being a baby for crying for his father.

I understand and respect that is that members opinion, and my answer is thus. Stress, fear, terror, confusion, homesickness, the fact that I have hinted that he killed a man in the vault, disorientation, and shock are all things that we as human's suffer from and it is not unrealistic to think that the LW would be going through all these emotions in the space of less than 16 hours, add to that the fact that he has been ripped from the security of a vault and thrust into a world that is alien to him, he doesn't know if his father is alive or dead, and therefore the fact that he sheds a few tears, IMO makes him both human and believable, which is my aim in this story.

Hungry for feedback, so please do so, even opinions like I referred to, it was appreciated, as it gave birth to the improved explanation of my thought's about why that particular scene had to be included.

But most importantly I hope you enjoy reading as much as I have enjoyed writing this.

OOOOOOOOOO

The first thought that occurred to Alexander was pain. Pain behind his eyes and spreading all around to the back of his head. The second thought was that he could hear again, the third thought was that he was in the physical activities room of the vault, as the sound he could hear reminded him of the boxing lessons he had taken, the thwack of flesh on flesh.

Lifting himself up a little, the immediate past came flooding back. "_Silver!"_ He thought, and with a grunt at the effort and pain, hoisted himself up and turned around. What he next laid eyes on sickened him to the point of throwing up.

A man's bare ass cheeks, pants around his ankles was thrusting himself into Silver. "Yeah, you like that bitch don't ya? When I'm finished fucking you, I'm gonna fuck your boyfriend's ass how about that? What's that? You want me to fuck your ass instead? Well ok slut, here we go." The man said. The only reply during all this from Silver was a soft whimpering, crying sound. Before Alexander could move, the man had pulled out, and rolled Silver onto her stomach, and positioning himself at her ass, gave a mighty thrust, burying himself deep in her, causing Silver to scream out in agony, a sound that entered Alexander's ears and tore at his heart like nothing he had ever heard before.

Leaping into action before thought could occur, Alexander grabbed the man by the back of the shirt he was wearing and with a might heave, fury giving him strength, pulled him off Silver and hurled him backwards, the man landing with a expulsion of breath on his back. Alexander followed up the attack, aiming a kick and scoring a direct hit on the man's balls, causing him to bounce up into a semi sitting position, hand cupping himself. Alexander then threw himself on top of the man's stomach, grabbing him by the hair, and slamming his head down onto the ground. Pulling his head up again, Alexander slammed it back down on to the ground, "You bastard, you friggen bastard." He hissed through clenched teeth, stopping his attack when the man's eyes rolled up in the back of his head.

Standing up, Alexander looked at the man's unconscious body, before the memory of the sight of him raping Silver came crashing into the front of his mind. Collapsing to his knee's, Alexander threw up his stomach contents, heaving with the expulsion, sickened by what he had seen.

"Alex?" Silver's voice reached his ears, thick with emotion and sounding barely in control. Turning his head after he had regained control of his stomach, Alexander looked at Silver. She had wrapped the remains of her top back around her breasts, and pulled her pants back up over her hips, though they were still undone.

"Are you alright Silver?" He asked, seeing blood running from her nose and corner of her mouth, as well as an already purpling bruise on her left cheek, just below the eye. He reached for his bag, and grabbing a water bottle, and handed it to Silver. She sniffed, lifting a piece of cloth from her top to wipe her eyes, then the blood from her nose and mouth before taking the offered bottle.

After taking a few mouthfulls, Silver handed the bottle back. "Is he dead?" She asked.

"No, just unconscious, Silver are you ok." Alexander asked again.

"I'm ok Alex, please help me up?" Silver asked in return.

Dropping the bottle back in his bag, Alexander walked over to the woman, and holding under the arm, helped life her til she was on her feet. "Can you find my gun for me Alex," She asked, "I think it's over there somewhere." Silver indicated, waving at an area about four feet from where they had taken cover.

"Sure Silver, your sure your ok?" Alexander asked again, moving to where she had pointed, still watching her, something about her attitude not making sense to him.

"I will be." She replied, slowly moving towards the raider she had shot.

Spotting Silver's weapon, Alexander bent to pick it up, grabbing it just before jumping and spinning around at the sound of a gunshot from behind him.

Silver was standing over the body of the man who had been raping her, Alexander's gun in her hand, a small wisp of smoke rising from the barrel, a small hole just above the man's right eye indicative of where she had shot him. "Won't do that again will you, you bastard." She spat.

Shocked at what he saw, Alexander dropped her gun to the ground, not wanting to appear a threat. "Silver?" Alexander spoke quietly.

Looking around at Alexander, and seeing the look of sympathy, concern and shock that was obvious on his face, Silver dropped the gun and turned away from both the body and Alexander, walking a few paces before collapsing to her knees.

"I..am..so sick..of..being...raped." She cried, head in her hands, the words coming out around great wracking sobs that shook her body. Slowly moving over in front of Silver, Alexander kneeled down, wrapping his arms around her, trying to comfort her, unable to hold the killing against her giving what had just happened to her.

"Shh, it's all right Silver, shh, it's ok." He murmmered at her, rubbing his hand down the back of her head and patting her back occassionally.

Silver, her arms gripping him tightly continued crying, the occassional word intersperced with the sobs. "Why" and "me." All that Alexander could understand, with "why" being repeated, a question that he had no answer for.

Gradually, her body stopped shaking and her tears lessened, slowly coming to a stop, thought she still gripped Alexander tightly, seeminly unwilling to break the contact.

"Are you ok Silver?" Alexander asked.

"No, I'm not ok." Silver said, anger clear in her voice, and suddenly she shoved Alexander away from her. "Why does this shit have to happen to me? Why are men such cunts?" She spat.

Staying on his knee's in front of her, Alexander responded. "I don't know Silver, I don't know."

Looking up for the first time since she had collapsed, Silver heard the concern in his voice, and saw a mixture of sympathy, concern and hurt in his features. "I'm sorry Alex," She said. "I'm..so sorry." And burying her head in her hands again, the heaving sobs started again.

Leaning forward again and patting her on the shoulder, unsure if contact would cause another outburst, Alexander murmmered at her. "I'ts ok Silver, I understand, it's ok."

Silver reached out and grabbed Alexander again, burying her head in his shoulder, body shaking with the strength of her grief. Alexander wrapped his arms around he again, murmmering softly at her until her body stopped shaking, and her tears dried up.

"I think we should get to somewhere safer than here Silver." Alexander spoke softly when she had calmed down a little.

Before Silver could answer however, they both heard a shout.

"HELLO!"

_"A mans voice."_ Alexander identified, as Silver tightened her grip on him.

"Oh please, not again." He heard her whisper.

Alexander tried to ignore her for the moment, along with the hammering in his chest, and leaned back, keeping one arm around Silver, stretching to reach his gun, trying to think how many bullets he had fired, and how many were in left in the clip. "_Fired two out here, and three in the vault, Silver used one started with fifteen, so nine left." _He thought to himself.

"HELLO!" The voice shouted again, much closer this time. Alexander aimed towards the roadway through the gap in the wall opposite where the raider's had been attacking from. Silver started softly crying again, head buried back in Alexander's shoulder.

At that moment, a man entered Alexander's sight's, walking down the road, and even as he was hoping that the man would keep walking, the man paused, turned, and uncannily looked straight at Alexander. Lifting his hands slowly, the man raised them to shoulder level, palms facing Alexander, and started walking towards them.

"Hello there, my name's Crow, I mean you no harm." The man said.

Alexander didn't waiver or answer, keeping his gun trained on the man. He had deep tan skin, short cut straight black hair and brown eyes that seemed trusting enough, Alexander decided, but didn't cause him to lower his guard, or his gun. The man, Crow, was wearing what Alexander had begun to classify as armour, made of the same strange substance that the raiders had been wearing, as well as a funny looking piece of head wear, that seeming covered his skull snugly, and had a lip on it over his face that shaded the top part of his face. "_That looks useful."_ Alexander thought.

A cross between a sob and a gasp escaped Silver's lips. Turning her head from where it was buried in Alexander's shoulder she spoke, "Crow! Thank everything that it's you," She said, to Alexander's surprise. "You can put the gun down Alex, I know him, he's a good man."

"Silver? What are you doing here?" Crow asked in surprise, "Word is that you stole some caps from Colin, and that he's put a bounty on your head girl. And here you are a stone's throw from his door? He'd be pissed if he knew you were so close."

"Colin can go and fuck himself," Silver responded, "I stole nothing but my percentage of wages, fairly earned." She responded, giddy relief in her voice and attitude obvious to Alexander.

Seeing Silver talk so familiarly with the man, Alexander dropped his arm, glad it didn't seem that there was more killing in store.

"Well. Anyway, we were on our way to Megaton," Crow responded, waving a hand in a flicking motion, indicating to the man who had snuck up behind Alexander and Silver to stand down. "Me and my caravan, still going strong, despite the wishes of many," He smiled. "When we saw the explosion, and i decided to check it out, so what happened, you two look like shit?"

"Fucken Raiders," Silver spat, "Ambushed us on the way back to where I been staying, we got three of them when a car exploded, but one had snuck around behind us, jumped Alex here, and the prick was raping me until Alex pulled him off."

The reminder of the rape, and Silver's killing of the man in the aftermath, caused Alexander's stomach to roil a little, and he shifted a little, an action that made Silver look at him again.

"Really, well, Alex, any friend of Silver's is a friend of mine, and well done, a real man doesn't need to resort to rape eh?" He grinned in a knowing way towards Alexander, but the meaning was beyond Alexander's comprehension at that point.

Silver glanced at him again. "Come on, let's get out of here Alex, you coming Crow? I'm just over there," She said, pointing in the general direction of the house, through the debris field that the explosion had created.

"You bet, I want to hear more about this, Megaton can wait another day to sample my wares." He grinned, stretching his arms out to assist them in rising.

Standing, both Silver and Alexander were still shaky, though both shared a look, and an unspoken desire for safety pushed them on.

"Jodi, Klossner," Crow called, "Go and get the brahmin and catch up with us." Crow called over his shoulder.

Motioning Silver to precede them, and stepping in beside Alexander, the trio made their way across and past the debris and bodies of the raiders, the man who had been firing the long barreled gun have died at some point un-noticed Alexander noted in passing. Strangely, he didn't feel remorse for their dying, Silver had shot one, true, but if she hadn't, he would have died, and the other two had died as a result of shrapnel, who actually caused the vehicle to explode not a factor in his reasoning.

Arriving at the house, Crow motioned them inside, saying he would be in presently, that he had to wait for his guards and caravan, to see them situated first.

Alexander had no idea what to expect inside the house, which somehow had remained standing. The thing that amazed him the most was the fact that the house was made of wood. "_There's more wood gone into this house than we had in the entire vault."_ He thought. Wood had been a luxury item for the first residents of the vault, with each dweller only permitted so much space worth of personal item's on entry, wooden object's were not in abundance anymore, old long since wrecked pieces of furniture having been cannibalized for repair's on other items, and very few small wooden object's remained.

Going around the back of the house, Silver montioned to the entrance, which was surrounded by a waist high wall, which in turn almost butted up against a sixteen foot high rock formation. "It's not much, but it's home, for now I suppose." She said, moving to the door, and an twisting a knob in her hand, pushed the door open, walking inside. Silver's attitude was still niggling Alexander, but he stil couldn't think straight and so mentally shrugging, Alexander followed her in, trying to look at everything at once, taking in the uniqueness of everything.

Just inside the doorway, to his right, Alexander noticed a large wooden clothes cabinet, again, made of wood! "Amazing," He said, "You know, there is nothing like this in the vault." Running his hand over it, and feeling the grain under his hand. Neither his father nor himself had owned any wood in the vault. Hanging from the roof, a strangly shaped metal sculpture hung, and just opposite, beside an entrance to another room, was a small round topped table, with a chair pulled out and sitting near it. A couple of small empty tins were on top of the table, along with a chipped plate and a fork. Turning to look at the other end of the room, Alexander stopped, stunned at what he saw.

Silver had removed her torn top and was throwing her pants onto the floor. Her naked breasts, nipples jutting out just a little, were everything and more that Alexander had imagined breasts to look like, and seeing a pair for the first time, stirred thoughts in the back of his head. Unable to stop himself, his eyes dropped down, just below her waist was a thin mat of curly almost white hair, and Alexander felt a stirring that was not in his mind, a feeling that combined with the thoughts he was having, sickened him, coming so soon after he had saved her from rape. Alexander wondered how she could so casually strip naked, even though he had seen some of her body when he pulled the raider off her, it still puzzled him, and the niggling feeling in his mind grew.

Seeing the look on Alexander's face when he had turned around, Silver belatedly realized that the young vault dweller, with his ma'am, and sheltered upbringing, had probably never seen a naked woman before. Unexpectedly, the thought made her blush as well, a slight smile breaking out on her face, and the way he had spun around, like a proper gentleman from a story of long ago. Quickly, to save both of them some of their embarrassment, she pulled on a spare pair of pants, and slipped into a top, doing the buttons up higher than usual, though she rarely cared anymore what men saw of her body, for some reason it seemed proper in Alex's company.

"Um, so I'm dressed now Alex, you can turn around." She said, belatedly thinking that she couldn't have said anything worse to draw attention to their mutual embarrassment. Fortunately, Crow opened the door at that moment, just as Alex turned back around, his eyes on the floor, the wall, anywhere but meeting her eyes.

"Hello all, you decent?" Crow asked, walking through the doorway, and closing it behind him. The man always seemed to be smiling or grinning, Alexander thought, as if he knew a private little joke.

"As decent as we'll ever be I suppose Crow." Silver replied. Moving to the doorway to the next room, she tuned and motioned to Alexander and Crow to come in, and said, "Sit down, I'll get us some drinks." And moved to a bench on the wall with the doorway in it. A small square table was pushed up against the opposite wall, with a doorway that had largish blocks stacked up against it four high. Examining the blocks in passing, Alexander noted that each of them had uniform hole through them, two in each block. "_Strange."_ He thought to himself.

"That's my lock." Silver said, pointing to the blocks covering half the doorway. "It's my thinking that if it's too hard to get to, people will hopefully ignore what's behind the door, and it's working so far. I've had a few people tried to get in, but they give up after a few shoves, thankfully. I do the same to the back door when I'm inside."

"Not a bad idea Silver." Crow said, taking the seat closest to the blocks, and turning it so that he was facing the door way they had all came from the other room through.

Alexander decided to take the chair opposite, depositing his bag and strapped together pieces of vault armour under the chair, that way he would be able to see both Silver and this Crow character without having to turn his head, thus giving them no opportunity to study him without him knowing it.

Silver set out three glasses, one in front of each seat, and plonked a couple of bottles down in the middle of the table. Looking at the labels, Alexander was surprised to see that one of them had 'Nuka-cola' etched into the glass, as the supplies of original Nuka-cola had long since been exhausted in the vault, and the only cola now available was regarded as a weak shadow of the original, according to vault lore. The other was a clear bottle, and it was mostly filled with a clear liquid. "_Water, I suppose." _Alexander thought.

Seating herself, Silver reached out and picked up the bottle of clear liquid, filling her glass to half full. Crow had pulled a smaller bottle out of one of his pockets, and poured himself an amber liquid drink into his glass. Unsure of himself and the courtesies, Alexander tentatively reached out to grab the bottle of water, making a show of not actually pouring, in case permission was required first, and examining the liquid in the bottle.

"It's vodka Alex," Silver said, "Help yourself."

"Ah, I don't actually drink alcohol." He replied, putting the bottle back in the middle of the table.

"That'll change, eh Silver." Crow said.

"Probably, but for now, do you want some cola instead then Alex." Silver said, responding to both men in turn.

"No, I got some water in my pack, that'll do me thanks." He responded, reaching under the chair and pulling his bag onto his lap, and feeling inside with his hand, locating the almost empty bottle and putting it on the table, returning his bag to its position under the chair.

Crow whistled through his teeth at the sight of the bottle, "May I have a look?" He asked Alexander, reaching out for the bottle.

Alexander shrugged, "Sure."

"Man I haven't seen anything like this before," Crow said, examining the reinforced plastic bottle. "Does it leak? Or spill at all?" He asked, turning the bottle upside down quickly before righting it and setting it back in front of Alexander.

"No." Was all Alexander said in reply, still not sure of this man's intentions, feeling well out of his depth, and wanting badly to talk to Silver alone.

"You know, something like that would be worth a fair bit if you were interested in selling it Alex." Crow said.

"No, thank you." Alex replied.

Turning in his chair suddenly so he was sitting side saddle, Crow looked straight at Alexander. "Let me say something Alexander, I know you don't trust me yet, and in your position, that's probably not such a bad thing. Judging from your jumpsuit, and that wrist terminal your wearing, both of which I can still make out under that jacket your wearing, I would say that your a vaultie, fresh out and haven't got a clue about anything, am I right." Not waiting for a reply, he continued. "Like I said, that's fine, trust in the wasteland takes time to occur, and that goes both ways. Now, I'm gonna step outside for a minute, check on my guards and shit, and in that time, have a think about what I just said, ask Silver about me if you like. I am basically a decent guy, and I think that we could probably learn something from each other."

Holding Alexander's eye for a moment after he finished speaking, Crow lifted his glass and tipped the amber liquid down his throat, breathing out with an explosive "Pah." as he put the glass back down, then standing up and walking off towards the back door that led outside.

"Shit." Alexander said softly, watching the retreating form of Crow leave the room. Turning to Silver, who was regarding him with sympathy, he tried to order his thoughts.

"Is everyone going to pick me for a vault dweller?" He asked.

"If I may suggest Alex, it is fairly obvious that you are very naive about the wasteland. I think that you need to change your appearance for a start, if Crow can identify you from your clothing. And what is this about a wrist terminal that he mentioned?

Sliding the arm of the jacket he was wearing up to reveal his Pipboy, Alexander explained. "It's called a Pipboy 3000, it's like a mini computer that fits on your arm. It's got this touch screen keyboard that you can use to manually enter data into, as well as a photo lens. You can use it to record vocal data as well." He said.

"See, I haven't got a clue what any of that means Alex, there are so many glaring things that make it obvious that we come from two different worlds, and that while your's is much more technical and advanced than mine, mine is much more brutal and unforgiving to the unprepared or inexperienced. Following my line of thought from earlier, I think that you should spend the rest of today here, as well as tonight, it's deadly to move around the wasteland at night, Crow will stay as well if I know him, and together we'll try to give you as much information about the wasteland as we can, and answer any questions that you may have."

"That sounds like a good idea Silver, thank you for you hospitality." Alexander responded, knowing that information was something that he badly needed.

In the moment of silence that followed, Alexander turned to Silver with a quesiton. "Why did you trust me so readily when we first met Silver?" He asked the woman.

"I mean I was badly in need of a friendly face and a degree of trust myself, and that could explain why I took to you so quickly, and I can understand your actions, if the situation had been reversed, I don't know that I would have acted very differently." Alexander said, and continued before Sliver could speak, "But I don't know that I would have trusted as readily as you did towards me, and while I am thankful for it, I am wondering why."

Thinking back to the mornings meeting, a slight smile twitched at Silver's lips. "Basically Alex, I'm lonely, I've been hiding out in this shithole for the last three weeks, trying to scavenge enough crap to trade for caps to buy the bounty off my head that that bastard Moriarity put there, and after I figured that you were a vaultie, and fresh out even, I figured that you were probably ok, and even if the worst came to the worst, I believed that I could have handled you, either way."

"Either way?" Alexander responded, not sure what to make of that.

"Bluntly Alex, if I had to I would have killed you or fucked you to protect myself." She said.

Still unable to deal with references to sex, thoughts of Silver's naked body and rape still fresh in his mind, Alexander lower his eyes to the table, his face flushing slightly.

"Your a decent kid... man Alex, in my line of work, you either get good at first impressions or you pay for bad judgment. The wasteland will change you, in many ways, but don't lose the decency and kindness that I can see in you."

Taking in the compliment, Alexander still struggled to understand her change of attitude, his mind screaming at him that something was wrong.

"How are you able to deal with what happened this morning Silver I don't understand how you or anyone for that matter could cope with being raped." Alexander asked unable to stop his tongue before the words were out there.

Silver went silent, staring at nothing for such a long time that Alexander worried that the question might have angered her.

"I'm a prostitute Alex, you know, men pay me to have sex with me." Silver replied, not sure that the vault dweller would understand the meaning of the word. "It's been a long time since I had sex because I wanted to, not because someone was paying me, and it just doesn't mean much to me anymore. And I've been raped before, I just try and turn off and get through it, forget about it and move on. Hopefully the next day will be better." SIlver stopped, again staring at nothing.

With the last sentance, Alexander's brain finally clicked together all the pieces, the voice of his father coming to him after Neil Moors' hand had been crushed by a hydrolic press in the vault. Alexander's father had to amputate the hand, the bones having been crushed. Neil had never acknowledged the fact that he had been missing a hand after that, ignoring all references to it.

_**Dissociation**_ : A partial or complete disruption of a person's conscious or psychological funtioning. Symptons of dissociation from trauma can include depersonalization, psychological numbing and or anmesia. It is hypothesized that dissociation may provide a temporary defense mechanism in cases of severe trauma. Dissociation's are generally unanticipated and typically experienced as startling, autonomous changes to people's usual ways of responding or functioning. Long term dissociation can lead to decreased psychological functioning and major adjustment's in the subject's psyche.

Now that his mind had finally figured it out, Alexander could properly understand the sudden change in Silver. She was, by her own words though probably without knowing it, suffering from long term dissociation disorder. The turning off and forgetting about it, equating to psychological numbing,_ "Maybe even minor, selective amnesia if she really can forget about it, or the detail's at least." _He thought. The fact that sex didn't mean much to her any more evidence of a long term habit, and finally the way she had adapted, her attitude changins so rapidly proof to Alexander that her psyche had probably changed. Though he had identified the problem, Alexander had no clue as to how to go about helping her, though from what he could tell, it probably was for the best. _"God know's I'd want to forget about it if I were in her position."_ He thought.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could manage, trying to wrap his mind around the atrocities that seemed to be daily life here in the wasteland.

"Forget about it, it's not your fault Alex." She responded, feeling sorry for the young man, the realities of life in the wasteland being thrust upon him so suddenly.

"Well then," Silver stated after a few moments of silence, "I think I'll get some food organized while we wait for Crow.

A little more than half an hour after he had left, Crow returned, holding a dirty scrap piece of paper, and returned to his seat, sniffing appreicatively at the smell coming from Silver's stove. "Brahmin steak?" He inquired?

"Marinated in a bottle of beer I found just the other day." Silver answered.

"Join us a minute Silver?" Crow asked, waiting until she had seated herself before continuing. "My men and I went through what was left of those raiders that were attacking you guys earlier, and I got a list here of what we could salvage off them, and I've decided to offer you both one hundred and twenty seven caps each, what do you think?"

"Your looting off dead people?" Alexander asked, the thougth making him uneasy.

"It's the law of the wasteland kid," Crow said to him, "Your kill, your loot, simple as that."

"You do what you have to to survive Alex, like we talked about, surviving is all that matters." Silver added, then turned to Crow, "One fifty each."

Grinning broadly, Crow rubbed his hands together and the two settled into bargaining, finally agreeing on a sum of one hundred and 138 caps each.

Still unsure about the idea of looting off dead people, Alexander decided to refocus on a new piece of information. "Caps, what are they?" He asked, addressing Crow once they had finished haggling.

Before Crow could speak, Silver interjected. "I invited Alex to stay overnight Crow, I figured between us we might be able to enlighten him to some of the ways of the wasteland. You're invited to stay as well if you like."

A smile on his lips, Crow answered, "It would be my pleasure, and I agree the boy needs some enlightenment." before turning to Alex. "This is a cap Alex," He said, pulling a small round, serrated edged piece of light metal out of a pouch at his belt and handing it to Alexander.

Examining the object, Alexander was surprised to see the 'Nuka-Cola' insignia on one side of the object. "A Nuka-Cola bottle cap?" He asked, mystified.

"Yup, it's what we use as a standard for trading, purchasing and selling stuff here in the wasteland nowadays," Crow answered. "O course, it's mainly a bench mark, there isn't really a lot of these caps floating around anymore, you will see them, but mostly things are bought and sold along an informal set of guidelines, which can fluctuate depending on supply and demand, with certain luxury items finding their way into commerce in place of caps. For example," He said, reaching for the bottle of Vodka on the table, "A full bottle of vodka is worth about twenty caps, give or take, but that's purchase price, not sale price. Sale price is probably around eight caps, again give or take. So if you wanted to buy a weapon that cost one hundred caps, for example, you could pay for it with twelve bottles of vodka and either make the difference with bottle caps or add something that was worth four caps."

"Barter is the way our commerce system, such as it is now, works out here Alex." Crow continued, in he element and warming to his subject. Silver took the opportunity to stand back up and continue with the cooking that had been interrupted. "Other goods that are favored by most vendors as payment include, booze in all it's shapes, cigarettes, medical supplies, especially radiation purgatives and the range of soporifics, readable books are huge value, fission batteries are also good, though they can be heavy to lug around, and of course, this," Crow paused in his delivery to pull a ball of paper about the size of a fist out of a pocket from under his armour.

Unwrapping it on the table, Alexander saw a greenish, organic looking substance. "Dead head weed." He said, smiling when Silver came over for a look, making appreciative sounds.

Noticing Alexander's look of bewilderment, he explained. "You chew it, makes the brain go all fuzzy and relax's you."

"A drug?" Alexander asked, receiving an affirmative nod from Crow.

"Now, getting back to business," Crow said, re-wrapping the stuff and putting it back in it's hidey hole under his armour, "The item's I've just mentioned as being the most favorable barter items, are also among the most valuable items that you will come across in terms of pure trade for the simple fact that they don't generally weigh much, again for example," And pulling out a small rectangular object, and flipping the top to reveal several small cylinders, Crow pulled one out and held it in his lips, pulling a smaller box out of the same pocket, he pulled out a small stick that was red on one end, and dragging it along one side of the box, caused the red end to burst into a small flame. Bringing the small flame to the cylinder that was in his mouth, he seemed to suck in, and the end of the cylinder burned. Shaking his hand to extinguish the flaming stick, Crow than plucked the cylinder from his lips, and Alexander saw a small cloud of smoke get inhaled by the man, which he promptly expelled, most from his mouth, but some also coming from his nostrils.

Holding the pack up inquiringly to Silver, he continued while she took one of the objects and lit it with the end of Crow's, which he had proffered.

"These are cigarette's, feel the weight of the pack," He said, handing it over to the amazed Alexander, who hefted it in his hands.

"While you might get more for a couple of weapons or a set of armour per item, you can not carry nearly as many weapons as you can packs of cigarette's, you get what I'm saying Alex? Crow asked.

"Yeah, that make sense." Alex responded

"Cigarette's are my preferred form of payment, because I smoke them, but others are going to have different desires, and therefore, certain barter items can be worth more in some instances. Another example, you will probably get more for booze in a bar or saloon if there is a high demand for alcohol and the owners supply is running low. Supply and demand, I know it's complicated, but important you understand all this if you want to survive and indeed prosper out here."

"Ok guys, lunch," Silver interrupted, placing a plate down in front of each man, a slab of grayish meat covered in juice of some description, before returning to the bench to get hers.

After watching both Crow and Silver slice pieces off their's and begin chewing and to Alexander's mind, enjoying their meal, he picked up a knife and fork and tried a piece, exclaiming in wonder at the texture and taste, having never had anything remotely like this in the vault. Silver and Crow found his enthusiasm amusing, and shared a look.

Over the meal, Crow inquired about what he termed Alexander's 'wrist terminal' again, and between bites, Alexander explained what it was and it's uses again. This time going into more detail then he had with his explanation to Silver, explaining how information could be stored on it, and retrieved when needed, how voice's could be recorded, and played back, demonstrating by playing back the information on commerce that Crow had just finished outlining to him, a display which impressed both Crow and Silver. He had finished by taking a photo of Silver, and bringing the image up on the screen for them to view, a display which seemed to impress them more than the voice recording feature.

After the meal, Alexander had listened to both Crow and Silver's detailing of what they called 'The Capital Wasteland', telling Alexander about the major settlement's of Megaton, which was just to the South and happened to be the metal and steel wall which Alexander had spotted that morning and decided to avoid, a judgment that both Silver and Crow informed him was a wise choice at the time, as it had a population of over three hundred people if you counted the slum that had been built around the gate by people who were denied permanant residence, but who still chose to keep to the relative safety of the town.

They told him about Rivet City, a old ocean going ship that was to the South East, and easily the largest population center in the Capital Wasteland, with over one thousand people calling it home. Alexander had a slight understanding of what they were talking about in relation to oceans and ships, from history vids, but the size that they described seemed impossible.

Crow spoke of Canterbury Commons to the North East, the place he called home, which was not a large place, most of the population being transient carvaneers like himself, but with some permanent residents, mostly the family of caravaneers or the people who guarded the caravans.

Big Town to the North, and Arefu to the North West, were both regarded as strange places, with the small populations, both having less than twenty people living there, and as being un-welcoming to outsiders, close mouthed and isolationist.

Paradise Falls to the North West, past Arefu was a place to be avoided at all costs, as it was a slaver's encampment, and that was all there was to be said about that place.

Tenpenny Tower was to the South West, a place to visit only if one had a lot of caps, as everything there was expensive, but which made it a profitable stopping point for the odd caravan, thought because of it's isolated position, few enough ever made the journey.

Smaller settlement's existed, they both knew of a few, Girdershade, which had been attacked and burned fifteen years ago and was not worth the effort to travel to, The Republic of Dave, where, Crow intimated, they were all inbred's, as well as Greyditch and Andale.

After the discussion on settlements around the wasteland, the talk turned to some of the danger's that lurked in every corner of the wasteland, beginning with raiders, people who generally lived in the wilderness in groups of anywhere up to twenty individual's, made up of both men and women, which was surprising to Alexander, but they both assured him that some of the more vicious raider bands had been led by women.

Mutated animals were also a large issue, as most could move faster than a human, and generally had better sense's, and there fore could locate prey easily from a distance, closing the distance at a speed that could be fatally surprising. Alexander had first hand experience with radroachs, but Crow's description of things like mole rats, a mutated rodent that had grown to about two feet high and three long. Also described were Mirelurks, a water inhabiting, man sized, well armoured biped with large claws which tore through armour like paper, Radscorpions, whose's only mutation were their greatly increased size, other wise they remained the same as their small cousins which still inhabited the wasteland, along with poisonous snakes.

As if that were not enough, the list continued, with Giant ants, Bloatflies, which were a much larger version of the flies that were ever in abundance, and Yao Guai, which were mutated bears, with enormous strength, speed and killing power in their jaws. Feral dogs were also in abundance in the wasteland, though they had seemed to avoid mutation, with some people actually taming them and keeping them as pets and companions. roaming in packs, though they had seemed to avoid mutation,

Following that, Crow started talking of Super Mutants, a bizarre mutation of unknown origin, Super mutants were man shaped, but on a larger scale, being about ten to twelve foot tall, and extremely strong, able to crush human skulls with their hands alone, as well as being able to pick up and throw heavily armoured people up to fifteen feet in some cases. The mutation had also made their skin a bilious yellow colour in general, with occasional exceptions, and they seemed to be of low intelligence in general, but again with exceptions, and very militaristic. A large number of them had inhabited the downtown area of D.C. attacking anything that moved and making travel to Rivet city a proposition that only heavily armed caravans were attempting now.

If that wasn't enough to stun Alexander, the tales of what had been termed 'centaurs' caused his mouth to drop open in horror. An unbelievable looking creature that seemed to be made of a number of human limbs joined together at random, with some having up to six arms or legs.

Deathclaws were to be avoided at all costs, these hulking beast were up to ten feet tall, hard to wound, with thick skin, extremely dense bones, hugely powerful and muscled with long, razor sharp claws that gave them their name. Highly aggresive and territorial and one of the fastest most deadly creature in the wasteland. The general consensus of wastelanders was if you crossed a deathclaw you were fucked.

Ghouls were the next topic, to be discussed, with Silver doing most of the explaining about them, referring to a ghoul, named Gob she knew from a place in Megaton where she used to work at called 'Moriarity's Saloon'

She told how they had once been normal human's, but long term exposure to radiation had warped their bodies, causing their skin to slough away, leaving muscle tissue exposed in some areas, giving them a monstrous look, though they were still intelligent. The radiation that had warped their bodies strangely enough didn't seem to affect them any more now that their bodies had adapted to the exposure. They were also long lived, some having been born before the great war.

Crow added that not all ghouls were 'civilized', that there were what were termed 'feral' ghouls, flesh eating mindless monsters which attributed to the sub-race as a whole not being widely accepted in human settlements.

During the hours that the three sat around the table talking, the sun had slowly began it's decent, and finally, set, the moon rising into the night sky. Sometime in the afternoon, Alexander had finally accepted an offer of vodka and cola, taking tentative sips at the combination, and finding it not at all unpleasant. Both Crow and Silver had also continued drinking their respective drinks, Crow's being straight whiskey, which he called his rotgut, and Silver drinking vodka and cola, though stronger than Alexander's. After another meal of brahmin, during the preparation of which, Alexander had asked what a 'brahmin' was, and Crow had taken him out side and laughed himself silly at the reaction of Alexander to seeing a two headed large, reddish four legged animal, Crow had produced his paper wrapped supply of dead head weed, with both Silver and himself taking a wad and chewing on it, Alexander politely declining to partake.

Alexander had told in general terms how he had come to be outside the vault, and his intentions of finding his father the only plan he had. The general consensus was that Megaton would be the best place to begin looking, an idea that had already occurred to Alexander, now that he knew where and what it was, based on the information that he had downloaded from the vault overseer's computer to his pipboy in the vault just before leaving.

About two hours after eating, Alexander, on his fifth weak vodka and cola, started to feel drowsy, cupping his head in his left hand, his eyes drooping until finally, his head gently slipped down to the table, and he slept.

"Well, he's dead to the world." Silver commented.

"Yup." Crow agreed and slowing rising, had gone outside and brought in a thin rolled up assortment of matting which he unrolled at the other end of the room that they had spent the afternoon talking in, and then, with Silver carrying the legs, had lifted Alexander buy the shoulders and together they had lain him down.

"Well, sleep actually sounds like a fine idea." Silver had said after Alexander had been situated, hoping that Crow would get the message.

"Not quite yet Silver," Crow had responded, reaching out and taking hold of her arm, a sly smile on his face. "You don't really think that those raider's really had that many caps worth of loot on them do you? I inflated the price to pay for a little something from you, you know."

Starring at Crow, Silver's emotions warred with each other, still both mentally and physically tender from the rape of the morning, she was hoping this wasn't going to happen, but from the look that Crow was giving her, no wasn't going to be an option. "Fine then, lets get this over with." She responded, moving to walk to her bed in the next room, Crow following.

Reaching out and turning her when they arrived at her bed, Crow slipped one hand into her top, taking hold of a nipple and squeezing while his other hand rubbed between her legs, his mouth moving down to her neck, kissing and licking. Silver maintained her poise, though her insides were roiling, disgust with how her life had turned out at the front of her mind.

"I'm afraid it's a bit all or nothing as well Silver," Crow added, taking a pause from her neck, but his hands continuing, "The price includes a service for both Jodi and Klossner as well after I'm finished with you." Another grin splitting his lips as Silver jerked back and away.

"No fucken way Crow. That's too much to ask." She said, surprised and hurt that Crow would do this to her, emotion threatening to overwhelm her.

"Well it's that or I can leave you both with twenty caps Silver, that's all that their loot's worth I'm afraid, and that won't get Alexander very far in Megaton, or you much closer to being able to pay off Moriarity, so it's your choice." He said, the sly grin reappearing, as he moved closer to her again, his hands returning to her body. "What's it gonna be Silver?"

"You bastard Crow," Silver whispered, turning so he wouldn't see the tears that had begun to roll down her cheeks. "Just get it over with." She said, still with her back to him, she pulled her pants down to her ankles and leaning forward, put her hands on the bed,.

OOOOOOOOOO

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Wasn't real happy with this chapter, and have rewritten it in the form you see here, the whole rape of silver with the anger and hysteria was going to go in a meeting between them in a future chapter, but after Kingoftheplankton 's review, and a reread myself, I decided to move things around a bit, and went into more detail here. The key was fitting in the alexanders discovery of silvers dissociation condition which exlains her reaction in the original, but was never explained there.

I also want to change the descriptive narrative that silver and crow give of the wasteland, but that will happen at a later date.

Another thing I want to address, as it might not be obvious, from this chapter, and I couldn't find a way to insert it, but may be addressed in the near future is the instant seeming friendly bond between Silver and Alexander.

I went into Silver's reasons, but for Alexander's part, as a vault dweller, he has been brought up in an environment where women are respected, and he is empathic with people due in part to his fathers occupation rubbing off on him. Silver, after her initial wariness has treated him fairly, being friendly and inviting him into her home, acting the way she did at first is understandable to Alexander, as he probably would have acted pretty much the same in her position. Add to that the fact that he also either subconsciously or consciously needed a friendly acquaintance at that point, and IMO the groundwork is laid, solidifiying in surviving the gunfight, and the subsequent rape and rescue.

So if you could let me know about what you think of this chapter and how I could fix it if you think it needs fixing I would be grateful.


	5. Steel Megaton

Hello fellow fanfiction friends

So back again, with my next chapter, I said I had a couple of chapters almost done a few days ago, and failed to deliver, but after a few changes, I finally got what I wanted out of this chapter.

My apologies for the length, it will probably be the longest I ever write, but I had to get the whole first day in Megaton completed so I could work in the other events that are taking place around the wasteland that don't immediately impact on the LW, but that occur simultaneously in my story line.

A note on my system of grid co-ordinates. On the fallout 3 map, from left to right, top to bottom, I have used letters, each large square being assigned a letter, so grid N,Q is the large square, (which on some maps on the net are made up of 3x3 smaller squares, I hesitate to name which map I used, PM me if you want to know) where the Point Lookout boat is moored, or 14,17. Further, the numbers after N,Q, i.e. N1,Q1 refer left to right column, top to bottom row of the 3x3 small squares that make up the N,Q, or 14,17 grid square. Therefore, N1,Q1 refers to the top left most of the smaller squares on the 14,17 grid co-ordinates. The Point Lookout boat would be N3,Q3. Hope this helps, as I will be using this grid reference in the future as well, if you need to PM me and I'll explain it a little better.

As always, would love to know what you think, even just a few words, like it, hate it, suggestions, opinions welcome, constructive criticism, all welcome.

First and foremost though, I hope you enjoy.

Thanks to those who have reviewed in the past, as well as those who have both favorite and alert checked.

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_**DOWNTOWN D.C.**_

"Scribe Yearling with Epsilion squad, requesting immediate assistance, we are under heavy fire, repeat, we are sustaining heavy enemy fire, with wounded Brothers, grid location N1, Q1"

The six man Squad Epsilion and two scribes had been detailed to the old Arlington library by scribe Procter Jamieson to catalog and prepare all recoverable books for extraction to the citadel and had been en route when walking between two ruined buildings they had come under heavy fire from ambush.

Their point man, Knight Horcar Dronalen had been the first hit, when a missile had exploded with a direct hit on his right leg, throwing the power armoured figure up and back six feet, his leg vaporized below the hip, and his screams of agony had only stopped with either unconsciousness or death, an unknown as the squad had broken for cover in the seconds following the attack.

Ambush had only registered over the squads com net when the rear guard, Knight Annie Lobota, had yelled about taking fire, getting cut of mid sentence as she collapsed to the ground.

By this time, the rest of the squad were moving, Knight Captain Marcus Kinsel calling for rally and making for the cover provided by a building with an overhang, pillars still supporting it would also provide cover, and the rubble strewn around the entrance affording more, with a small area inside which the collapsing interior had mercifully left clear.

Organizing the remainder of his squad, Knight Captain Kinsel had ordered the two scribes, Melissa Yearling and Clinton Behar to remain inside, leaving Initiate Matthew Taylor as a last line protection for them.

Paladin Lonnie Globin, the squads sniper had moved to a prone position on a small mound of rubble near the front of the overhang, his rifle scanning the surrounds in a one hundred and eighty degree motion, searching for targets.

Knight Troy Bolin, heavy weapons specialist, stayed as ever by the Knight Captain's side, the motor on his mini gun whirring in anticipation.

Moving to the relative protection of a pillar, Knight Captin Kinsel had readied his assault rifle, requesting an update from paladin Globin.

"Unidentified merc's, no insignia that I can discern, four to the North, at least seven to the South, armed mostly with rifles, moving from cover to cover, advancing slowly." Was the concise report from the Paladin.

"Shit." Kinsel swore, listening to the call for help from Yearling, hoping that there was another Brotherhood patrol in the area. "Pick your targets and engage!" He shouted, spotting a merc looking around the hulk of a car to the North, lining up his shot, when from down the sights he saw the man's head rock back, blood and brains exploding from the back of his head before the body collapsed onto the ground.

"One." He heard over his com, accompanied by the sound of a bolt being worked as the Paladin looked for his next target. Smiling grimly inside his helmet, Kinsel didn't mind the that his sniper took the kill, the fact that this was the third Brotherhood squad to come under ambush in the last fortnight wiping all competitiveness from mind, survival being the objective.

"Knight Bolin, pin those fuckers to the South." He ordered, hearing the whir of the Knights mini gun take on an urgent tone before bullets began spewing from the five rotating barrels.

Bullets peppered the pillar Kinsel was using as cover, a few pinging off the back of Knight Bolin's armour. "Paladin Globin, concentrate fire to the North." Kinsel ordered, shifting fire that way and squeezing off a few three rounds bursts himself, noticing movement and aiming in that direction.

"Two." From the Paladin, another working of his bolt following his comment.

The Paladins kill must have spooked one of the merc's Kinsel thought, even as he depressed his trigger, aiming for the center mass of a merc who had sprinted from the cover provided by a large mound of rubble into the open, no discernable cover as an objective for the man. He grunted in satisfaction as all three rounds found their mark, the man dropping and skidding along the ground.

"_That should be one to the North, still seven to the South." _Kinsel thought, having to amend his thoughts almost instantly though.

"Three. Permission to shift fire to the South." the request followed with another working of the bolt on his rifle from the Paladin.

"Granted, well done, Globin," Kinsel shouted, "Bolin, selective fire mode." He relayed to the mini gunner, hoping to draw precise shot opportunities for himself and Globin.

"Epsilion squad, from Sentinel Lyons, hold fire and prepare for counter assault." A voice broke into their com net. "We are moving up from the South, and are preparing to engage from the rear."

The news was a welcome announcement for Epsilion squard, for as soon as Bolin had stopped his pinning fire, there seemed to be an awful lot of bullets coming their way, with chips of concrete from misses as well as bullets pinging off Bolin's and Kinsel's power armour. Globin had repositioned himself and seemed to have avoided attracting fire.

"Colvin, Dusk, heavy weapon targets are your first priority," Sentinel Sarah Lyons spoke into her com, "Glade, cover fire on my mark while we advance, Vargas, with the initiate's, second line please, Kodiak, with me. Elder Lyons wants prisoner's to interrogate about these recent ambush's so take one alive if possible, if not, just put them down."

The Lyons Pride moved quickly with her orders, spreading out over the width of the street running between the ruins, a little over two hundred yards from the mercenaries who were pouring fire onto Epsilion squad. Within seconds, all the Pride had found cover and awaited their leader's command.

"Lyons Pride, advance," Sentinel Lyons said, Colvin and Dusk the exception's who had found position to fire from, Dusk laying prone and Colvin on one knee, both with their respective rifles sweeping the back's of the heads of the merc's.

Paladin Glade had set up to the right hand side of Sarah and her first line, advancing in time with them, while Vargas and the two newest members of Lyons Pride followed, staggered out of formation with the Sentinel's.

Sentinel Lyons had planned on advancing to one hundred yards before firing, but a mercenary, obviously running out of ammo, had spun around on his knee's and was in the process of swapping out clips on his assault rifle when he spotted the approaching Squad, and had started yelling out an alert, an alert that died as he did, bullets from both Colvin and Dusk's rifles impacting his head almost simultaneously, leaving very little of the back of his head, spraying blood, bone and brains in a wide arc on the car hulk he had been using for cover.

A few more steps, and Sentinel Lyons spoke into the com net, "Epsilion, we are about to commence attack, prepare for counter attack copy?" And on receiving an affirmative from Knight Captain Kinsel had continued to the Pride. "First line, drop," Dropping to one knee herself as she gave the order, "Second line, halt, snipers choose your targets, Glade prepare for suppression fire."

Swinging her head quickly from left to right, checking her squad, though they worked so well she barely needed to, and Vargas would have the initiates well in hand, Sentinel Lyons gave the next order.

"Fire at will."

Two mercenaries went down immediatley, minus backs of heads, as Colvin and Dusk worked bolts, Glade had powered up his mini gun, and bullets started firing from the barrels as he methodically moved from right to left, up and down slightly, his aim more to disorientate than to hit or kill. The Initiates three round bursts all missed their targets, combat inexperience showing Lyons thought, while Vargas put at least two holes in the back of a third mercenary. Aiming down her own barrel, Lyons squeezed off her own three round burst, with two hits to the back and one to the neck of her target, blood spraying where her bullet hit an artery. Kodiak, standing beside her had missed his target, with the merc dropping and rolling out of the line of fire, scuttling around the other side of the mound of rubble he was using as cover, an action which was futile in regard to preserving his life, as three bullets inpacted the his back, and another his head, as Knight Captain Kinsel and Paladin Globin opened fire, the force of the hits throwing the body back the way he came.

A grenade, launched from an under barrel launcher signaled the arrival of Gallows, who had somehow positioned himself inside a ruined building on a third floor with a perfect view of the mercenaries below. "_How he manages to move so quickly and find all the right route's I'll never know." _Sentinel Lyons thought to herself. The grenade scored a direct hit, connecting with a mercenaries chest plate, exploding on impact and shredding his armour and torso, leaving a huge gaping wound, ribcage destroyed, heart and lungs just gone. The wound was that deep, that latter examination showed the spinal column, thought itself shattered in many places, visible from where the body lay on it's back.

"_Six down in as many seconds!" _Sentinel Lyons was exultant. "Six down from Lyons Pride." She called over her com to Epsilion Squad.

For his part, Knight captain Kinsel was feeling the pressure lessening. The amount of ricochet's had decreased marginally since Lyon's Pride had entered the fray.

"Globin, how many left?" Kinsel asked over his com.

"Three, Knight Captain." Was his crisp reply. "No viable target. One inside that wrecked hulk, one behind the rubble against the opposite wall and one in the crater next to the hulk."

"Lets change that shall we, Bolin, prepare covering fire." Kinsel said, lowering his assault rifle and holding it in his left hand, pulling a fragmentation grenade out of it's holder, and pulling the pin, even as Bolin open up with his mini gun again, showering the area with bullets. Kinsel took one step and threw the grenade, which bounced off the side of the hulk, and stopped on the lip of the crater. A moment later, the merc using that crater for cover stood up and started moving, trying to get away from the grenade, and was thrown into the air, as bullet after bullet pummeled the man, Bolin's aim being true. The body hadn't landed when the grenade went off further ripping it apart, and what was left of it landed next to the mercenary crouched in the hulk, causing the man's nerve to break. He jumped up, finger depressed on his trigger, firing wildly, but was killed instantly, as bullets from Globin and Dusk's rifles destroyed his head completely, one entering from the front and one from the back, the result of the hollow points blew both the front and back of his head apart, leaving two separate and unattached sides of his skull, one ear, his top lip and jaw the only visible parts, his brain, eyes, nose, the rest of his head just gone, as well as being hit by at least seven rounds from Vargas and the Initiates and a barrage from Bolin's his mini gun, which whirred to a stop, empty.

"One left Sentinel." Knight Captain Gallows reported from his position on the third floor, "I have a clear shot, orders?"

"We want him alive if possible Gallows," She responded, "Aim to miss, lets try and bring him into the open. Dusk, Colvin, Globin, take his arms if possible, everybody else, grab some cover, you too Kinsel. On my mark Gallows." Waiting until she her squad had taken cover, mostly behind mounds of rubble that were prolific in downtown D.C. Sentinel Lyons defied her own orders, hoping the act of watching would make her desire come to fruition, and that they would have a prisoner. "_This is the best chance we've had so far."_ She thought to herself

"Do it."

Gallows lined up his rifle, aiming for the opposite side of the merc, hoping to give the impression that the attack was coming from the North, and that might push him towards Colvin and Dusk's sights. Punching two successive three round bursts into the concrete, within a foot of the merc, and watching with satisfaction as the man cringed and shuffled a little towards the South.

"Almost." Gallows heard over the com, Colvin.

Gallows lined up again, another three round burst, closer to the man this time, and the resultant shuffle put the mans left half of his body into a pair of scopes.

"Ready Dusk?" Colvin spoke through his com.

"Ready." The reply.

"Fire." From Colvin.

A pair of rifle retorts, so close together that it would have been difficult to tell it had been two to people not listening in on the com channel. Two bullets finding their mark, the first shattering both the radius and ulna, pieces of both bones exiting with the bullet, the second entering into the join where the upper met the lower are, the elbow. The bullet tore through flesh and bone alike, destroying the joint, and forever rendering the mans let arm useless.

"Incapacitated." Sentinel Lyons heard over her com from Gallows, the mercenary having passed out from shock.

"Vargas, Kodiak move in and secure the prisoner." Sentinel Lyons ordered, "Dusk, Colvin, Glade, over watch, Gallows, regroup, Initiates, see to Epsilions wounded." After her orders had been acknowledged, she moved forward, following the initiates to where Epsilion squad had been ambushed.

Knight Captain Kinsel was busy with orders himself. "Initiate, Scribe Behar, see to Knight Dronalen, Melissa, please check on Knight Lobota, Paladin Globin cover for Scribe Behar, Knight Bolin, with me." And moving off, Knight Captain Kinsel followed Scribe Yearling to where Knight Dronalen had fallen.

Meeting with Sentinel Lyons, Kinsel felt keenly his squads performance. "Sentinel," He said in greeting, "Thank God you were in the area."

"We were following your squad, Knight Captain," The Sentinel replied, "Elder Lyons ordered us to follow at a discreet distance in anticipation of this very occurrence, and now we have a prisoner, we may get some intelligence on these ambushes."

"Well, I am grateful." The knight captain responded.

"Knight Lobota is KIA," Knight Captain, Scribe Yearling reported coming over and joining the Knight Captain and Sentinel.

"Her sacrifice will be remembered," Sentinel Lyons spoke.

Before the Knight Captain could respond, a scream rent the air, and Vargas reported. "We're amputating the lower arm Sentinel, the joint is destroyed."

"Knock him out, stabilize and prepare him for transportation to the Citadel." She responded, annoyed that medical supplies would have to be used, but that screaming would bring everything in a wide area down on their heads.

"Knight Dronalen is alive!" Scribe Behar shouted, himself and Initiate Taylor were working feverously to remove the damaged lower half of his Power Armour to get to the wound that had left the Knight with only one leg.

"Vargas." Sentinel Lyons spoke over her com, the Paladin leaving the mercenary to the Initiates and hurrying over to the wounded Knight.

_"Pity it wasn't the other way around," _Sentinel Lyons thought to herself, _"With only one leg, unless Rothchild can work some magic on Dronalen, he'll only be any good as a Scribe now, and with these ambushes sapping the Brotherhood's strength, we need fighters, not Scribes."_

"I'll split my squad to get you to your objective Scribe Yearling," Sentinel Lyons said. "Kodiak, Glade, Gallows you will continue with Squad Epsilion to the Library."

"Sentinel." Three voices responded as one.

"Initiate Reddin, status report." Sentinel Lyons said , turning in that direction.

"Prisoner ready for transport Sentinel." The initiate reported, having tied the unconscious form to a fold out field stretcher.

"Vargas, Knight Dronalen's condition?" She requested.

"Critical, but stable, preparing for transport now." Initiate Tayor was even now folding out another field stretcher.

"Good, lets get ready to move." The Sentinel ordered.

Knight Captain Kinsel saluted his superior, and moved in front of Sentinel Lyons to speak with Scribe Yearling.

The crack of a rifle broke the air, the screeching of metal ripping through metal followed and Knight Captain Kinsel was spun around and stumbled forward collapsing onto Sentinel Lyons, who reacted instantly and steadied the power armoured man, lowering him gently to the ground, even as Globin yelled over the com net.

"Sniper! Up there!" And pointing to a fourth floor window brought his rifle up and trained it on the window he had seen a barrel retreating from, firing a single shot to mark it before working his bolt and re aiming.

Both Paladin Glade and Knight Bolin lumbered forward, mini guns whirring for a second before they turned to screams, bullets flying out of the barrels a moment latter and tracing lines around the window, concrete chips flying everywhere as over one hundred bullets impacted the wall in the first three seconds.

Knight Captain Gallows fired next, launching a grenade from his under barrel launcher, the explosion rocking the building immensely, and combined with the assault it was taking from the mini guns, causing internal walls to collapse, dust billowing out of the window followed by chunks of debris. With the internal walls and roof collapsing, the mini gunner's let their weapons come to a halt, confident that the sniper was eliminated.

"Vargas!" Sentinel Lyons yelled over her com, the Paladin leaving the side of Knight Dronalen and running towards the Sentinel.

"Marcus!" Scribe Yearling screamed, dropping to her knee's on the other side of the man, across from Sentinel Lyons, tearing at the locking mechanism on the Knight Captains power helmet.

"I'm ok Mel," Knight Captain Kinsel's weak voice filtered through the helmet. "Bullet entered in the right hand upper back Sentinel." He said

Vargas slid on his knee's the last few feet, hands beginning work on stripping the Knight Captain's armour immediately, with Sentinel Lyons helping. Scribe Yearling had finally gotten the helmet unlocked, and pulling it off dropped it before clasping the mans head, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes.

"Marcus, hang on." She pleaded, looking into his eyes, tears forming in her own as the Sentinal and Paladin worked to finishing stripping the man's armour.

"I'll be alright Mel, it's ok, I love you." He said, trying to lift an arm up to touch her face, stopping when her realized that he still had his power armour on.

Finally detaching the last catches, the Sentinel and Paladin lifted the front plate off the wounded Knight Captain, dropping it on the ground above his head.

"Med-X." Scribe Behar said, getting to his knees beside the Paladin, and jabbed the metal syringe into the Knight Captains right pectoral muscle.

"We need to roll him, move Scribe." Vargas barked at Scribe Yearling.

"A moment," She replied, not fazed by the Paladin's order, and leaning over the chest of the Knight Captain, kissed him gently on the lips, the Knight Captain responding. "Ok." She said, standing and moving a few feet away as the Paladin and Sentinel lifted the man up and pulled his back plate out of the way before lowering him and rolling him onto his left side.

Scribe Behar kneeling beside the Paladin, observing the wound. "Looks like AP, so his insides should be ok, but I think he may have a punctured lung, we need to get him to the Citadel asap Sentinel." He reported.

A moan from the Knight Captain caused Scribe Yearling to turn away, head in her hands, as Sentinel Lyons watched the Knight Captain's eyes roll up in the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

"Redding, Jennings! Dump that piece of shit and get that stretcher over here!" Sentinel Lyons shouted over her com, turning to see the initiates were already on their way with it, the prisoner laying where he had been rolled off by the Initiates anticipating her order. Sentinel Lyons smiled grimly, proud of her squad, but worried that Melissa may be about to lose her partner and the father of her two young children.

Leaving the Knight Captain in the capable hands of Paladin Vargas and Scribe Behar, Sentinel Lyons stood up and ordered her thoughts.

"We all return to the Citadel." She announced. "Jennings, Reddin, your in command of Knight Captain Kinsel's stretcher, Taylor, Knight Bolin, please see to Knight Dronalen's stretcher. Colvin, can you carry Lobota's body please and Gallows, can you carry that sack of shit back to the Citadel," She asked, indicating the prisoner. "No need to be gentle, but I would like a live prisoner when we get back, something to show for this Charlie Foxtrot."

"Sentinel." Gallows and Covlin echoed each other, saluting and moving to lift the unconscious forms, lugging them over their shoulder.

"Ok, those with wounded and prisoner move out, Vargas, lead them off. Glade, Kodiak, with Vargas, Globin, follow, Scribes with the stretches, Dusk, you and me pile these Brothers armour for later retrival and move out."

Three hours later, Sarah Lyons sat on the edge of her bed in her personal room in the Citadel's A ring attached to the Lyons Den. Her normally pulled back blonde hair was loose, falling past her shoulders and still damp after her visit to the steam room that followed the extended debriefing. Lobota's funeral had been scheduled for the next day. Star Paladin Cross had been eager to get to work on the prisoner, but that hed been postponed, agreement being reached in a meeting between the Brotherhoods hierarchy and medics coming to the conclusion that he still needed stabilizing, death from shock being the deciding factor, and that a dead man could tell them nothing. "_We badly need something to show for our recent losses." _She thought to herself, _"Moral has been low lately amongst the troops."_ Though she knew the Pride had been keeping their own up.

Knight Horcar Dronalen had not yet regained consciousness, but he had been stabilized, having lost almost half the blood in his body. "_That's going to bring morale down even more."_ Sarah thought, "_Horcar was popular with the troops, especially some of the women."_ A Scribe's life awaited him when he regained consciousness. "_Such a waste."_ She thought to herself, "_Horcar was an almost perfect soldier, loyal, obedient and he loved the life."_ The troops had even put him down as a potential recruit for her Pride, the betting pool giving him good odds. _Never going to happen now though."_

Knight Captain Marcus Kinsel it seemed would pull through as well, and unlike Dronalen, would be back to active duty inside a month. Scribe Behar had called it well, with the Knight Captain having a punctured lung, as well as a broken rib. Scribe Yearling had yet to leave the man's bedside, wanting to be there when he woke up.

Sighing to herself, Sarah stood up, and walking to the door, turned her thoughts to speculating about when the interrogation of the captured mercenary would be, knowing that if they could break him, the Pride would be the squad dispatched and therefore there were preperations to be addressed.

OOOOOOOOOO

_**MEGATON**_

Alexander had never imagined anything like it. Approaching Megaton with Crow and his caravan, Alexander smelt the place over a hundred meters before they arrived at the gate, where a protectron model robot was welcoming people entering the town, rotating through a list of rules and welcoming speeches. "Deputy Weld." Crow had told him, shaking his head. It had occurred to Alexander during the journey from Silver's that Crow had little love for Megaton, and it had also came as a shock to Alexander why the town had come to be called Megaton. The undetonated nuclear bomb that the town was built around.

The tents, sheets of tin and metal leaned up against the wall, large rocks and each other, and other assorted materials that had gone into building what Crow called a slum to the left hand side of the gate, up against the wall seemed to be the source of the smell.

"Well, here we are, glorious Megaton Alex," Crow said, "I'm setting up over in front of the tents here, I'll be here for a couple of days probably. Look up Lucas Simms when you get inside, he should be able to help you with finding out if your father came this way."

"Thanks for your help Crow." Alex responded, hefting his bag and resettling it on his shoulder, the bottles of booze and a couple of cartons of cigarette's that had been his share of the payment from the raiders loot clinking together. He had also traded the spare vault armour he had brought out with him for a small box of 10mm bullets and swapped his jacket for a dirty slip over shirt, which covered the top half of his jump suit, hiding the large one oh one and changing the general appearance in the hopes that it might afford him some camouflague, making him less identifiable as a vault dweller. To this end, Alexander had removed his pipboy, stowing it at the bottom of his pack. Alexander was in a general good mood, feeling hopeful that the day may have positive results.

Before walking through the gates, Alexander wandered over to the opposite side of the gate, where more tin and steel had been fenced off between rocks to enclose more Brahmin, about twenty in all. Alexander noted that not all Brahmin had two heads, with single headed beasts visible, but some had other mutations, including six horns, twin tails, and even a few with more than four legs, one in particular having eight, the four extra extending out from the just in front and behind the back and front hip joints respectively.

Beyond the Brahmin pens he could see what looked like a smallish building, but with no roof, just four sides. "_Strange."_ He thought to himself before shrugging and deciding that he was only wasting time, nerves playing a small part and that he should get himself inside.

"Welcome to Megaton, please enjoy your stay, visit Moriarty's saloon." The protectron had spoken as he walked past, under the large cylindrical fan like object and throught the gates to Megaton proper.

From where Alexander stood trying to take everything in at once at the top of a steep decline, he could see fifty or more people, walking up and down the incline, coming and going from the gates, travelling over cat walks in the distance, talking in small groups, sitting in the shade of the wall and "_What the Hell?"_ standing in a small semi circle around a huge bomb! Shaped just like the ones the vids in the vault had shown. "_Madness._" Alexander thought to himself.

Looking straight ahead of him, Alexander saw a building with a sign on it that read Moriarty's Saloon. "_Will have to check that out later."_ He thought, his gaze continued its wander, spotting part of another sign, and moving to his left to get a better look, he tripped over a rather large pipe, coming out of the ground and following the curve of the decline down in to the bomb pit. Regaining his balance, and looking for the sign he had seen, Alexander soon spotted it, supply spelt out in large letters. "_A place to visit, but not urgently, I gotta conserve what I have for necessities." _Just below the cat walk outside the Saloon, Alexander noticed a crude representation of an Atom, made from metal.

Just to his right, was a post about wrist thick and festooned with pieces of wood shaped as arrows pointing in different directions. Hopeful of finding some direction, Alexander moved over to the pole, reading the various signs, Saloon, Supply, Food, Common's, Toilets, that one with arrows pointing in two opposite directions, and noting a small crude representation of the same symbols for man and woman that were present in the vault, Clinic, Church and finally Sheriff. Spotting the last on and sighing to himself. _"This'll help,"_ He thought, glad to finally have some direction in hopefully finding someone who could tell him if his father had passed this way, thirty six hours after leaving the vault. "_Might even find him here."_ Alexander hoped to himself, the thought given him a mental boost, and solidifying his intentions, he stepped off to the right, heading in the direction the Sheriff's sign had given him, walking past a dark skinned man sitting in a chair at a table outside what must have been his house, a large rifle like the one's Crow's guards, Jodi and Klossner had been carrying, propped up against the table within easy reach. The man was watching people walk in and out of the gate, his eyes never seeming to stop, paused over Alexander for a moment, and Alexander had the feeling that the man knew his height, weight, eye and hair colour, and what he had last eaten.

Continuing on past the man, Alexander passed a couple of more doors into what were unsigned buildings, and therefore not the sheriff's..._"Wonder what you call where a sheriff is?"_ He thought, _"A sheriff's office, sheriff's station?"_ Rounding a corner to the left, and stepping onto a sheet of steel, Alexander noticed that he was about to start walking on a cat walk. "_Shit, hope this is stable."_ He thought. Passing another door way, this one with a faded sign on the wall next to it which said 'Water Processing Plant'. caused Alexander to stop, and wonder if he had missed the Sheriff's office, as he had decided to call it, thought to himself. "_This isn't working, nothings logical about this place. How in hell could anything be logical about a place build around a bomb?"_.

Deciding that one of the people passing both ways alongside him on the cat walk might know, Alexander turned the way he had come, and slowly walking that way, asked a raggedly dressed man who overtook him, "Excuse me, but could you tell me where I could find the Sheriff?"

"Who fucken care's? Piss off and leave me alone." Was the man's slurred response.

Shocked at the man's apparent drunkenness, at nine o'clock or there abouts in the morning, Alexander kept his thoughts to himself, and slowly plodded his way back the way he came, meaning to recheck the sign post to see if he had misread.

Passing the man who was still sitting at the table, Alexander once again sighed, "_Gotta get used to the wasteland I suppose._" he thought, deciding to ask the man for directions.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where I could find the Sheriff please." Alexander asked in his politest manner, hoping it might help.

A pair of brown eyes dragged their way from the passing humanity walking through the gates and came to rest on Alexander. "_Also how old I am, when I last brushed my teeth and cleaned my ears."_ Alexander added to his mental list of what the man saw with those eyes.

"Lucas Simms," The man said, indicating himself, "Town Sheriff, and Mayor too, when the need arises. What do you want?" He asked Alexander bluntly.

_"Mayor, must be like the Overseer in the vault."_ Alexander thought.

"Ah, thank God," Alexander said, "Good morning Sheriff Simms, my name's Alexander, and I'm new to town," He said, before Simms cut him off.

"Heh, no shit, new to the wasteland too, I'll bet," Lucas said, "You just gotta be a vaultie don'tcha kid?"

"_For the love of..." _Alexander thought, "_So much for trying to hide the fact."_

"Yes Sheriff, as a matter of fact I am, and I'm looking for another vault dweller, my father, forty six years old, greying hair, brown eyes, I think he probably would have been wearing the same sort of jump suit as this," Here Alexander indicated his partially concealed vault jump suit. "Probably a white coat over it, thought I'm not sure. Have you seen anyone matching that description Sheriff?" Alexander asked, all in a rush.

"Nope, sorry son, can't help you there, but tell you what, I'll ask my watchmen for you, how about that."

Deflated, Alexander's shoulder's sagged. "Thank you Sheriff, that would be most kind of you, can you think of anywhere else he might have been?" Alexander asked.

"Well, either Moriarty's or the Brass Tavern might be some places to ask around, though take care if you do go to Moriarty's, he's not to be taken lightly." Lucas said.

"So I've heard Sheriff, thanks for your time anyway." Alexander replied.

"Drop back around and see me this afternoon son, I should have been able to talk to my boys by then." Lucas said as Alexander turned to leave.

"I will Sheriff, thanks again." Alexander said in farewell, pausing before he had gone three steps, and turning again. "One more thing Sheriff, where could I get some water?"

"The water processing plant, around the corner," Lucas said, his eyes back on the people waking in and out of the gate, waving a hand the way Alexander had returned. Then looking back around at Alexander, Lucas continued, "Tell Walter I said to give you the special, then have a chat with him, I think you might be able to help each other out."

Lucas returned his gaze to the gate, and Alexander, mentally shrugging, decided that it was as good a place as any to begin, turned around again, and set off around the wall, returning the way he had already passed, to the water processing plant.

When knocking on the door produced no result, Alexander pushed the door open, and stepped into a room that was at least five degree celsius cooler than outside, the reason quickly apparent, as just in front of the door, surrounded by a steel and wire fence, a large open topped tank held water, paddles slowly circulating the water around. What looked like a turbine was over to his left, near another door, and to his right were two large suspended tanks, with pipes running into both ends and pipes connecting them together. A small wizened dark skinned old man with white hair had his back to the door, working with a wrench on one of the connecting pipes, grunting softly to himself with the effort. Stepping up beside the old man, Alexander coughed to get his attention.

"Hello there youngster, just give that wrench a shove upwards would you?" The man said, skipping formalities.

Alexander stepped into the spot that the old man indicated and gripping the wrench, managed a quarter turn.

"Excellent, thankee young man," The old man said, "Name's Walter, and what can I be doing for you?"

"Alexander," He said, "Lucas Simms said to tell you that you would give me the special? I was after water.." Alexander said, trailing off.

"Hmm, so the special eh, well, come on this way with me, young Alexander." Walter said, leading him to the other end of the room, where a rusty tap was set into a join in the pipe that lead out of the second of the elevated tanks, with a bowl placed on the ground beneath it. "Got anything to hold water in Alexander?" Walter asked.

"Yes sir, two actually, " He replied, digging in his bad and pulling out the first bottle and when Walter held out his hand, passing it to him before grabbing the other.

"Hmm, yes well, I see why Simms sent you to me Alexander." Walter said. "I ain't seen one of these for oh, gotta be close to thirty six years now, not since Anne Palmer was here." Looking at Alexander again before turning to fill the first bottle from the tap, he spoke again. "So what brings you out of the vault young Alexander?"

"_Anne Palmer, Jonas's mother, both dead."_ Alexander thought to himself. This man knew Anne Palmer when she was here with the scouting party thirty six years ago, the one he had only found out about when he downloaded the Overseer's files. "She's dead," Alexander said, the words just dropping out of his mouth, "She died two days ago, when my father left the vault."

"Oh?" And turning around, Walter's eyebrow's had ridden up his forehead, "Come on in here lad, lets have a chat shall we," He said, indicating through the doorway, and walking off that way, Alexander's bottle still in his hand.

Following Walter through the door, he found him pulling a chair up to a desk that had definitly seen better days, and when Walter indicated that he should sit, he sank into the chair, Walter seating himself in a chair that he pulled out from under the desk and turning to face Alexander, putting the now full bottle of water in front of him. "I'll fill that other one for you in a minute young man, but now, tell me what's happened in the vault? Why did your father leave?" He asked.

_"Thats' a damn good question."_ Alexander thought, aloud he said. "I really don't know Walter, I just don't know." And feeling confidant that he could trust Walter with at least some of the story, went on to detail how he had come to be in Megaton, leaving out mention of Silver, and just slipping in an abridgement about meeting Crow in the wilderness, and how he helped to bring Alexander to the town.

"Hmm, well, I wish I could help Alexander, but I haven't seen the man you described, not that I get out and about much with trying to keep the purifier working." Walter said when Alexander had finished.

"So is this actually a water purifier than?" Alexander asked.

"Kinda young man, kinda, it does extract impurities from the water, but unfortunately it doesn't do so good at getting rid of the radiation I'm afraid, so there is still a slightly bitter, metallic taste to the water." Walter exlpained, continuing with a question of his own. "So what were your specialities in the vault then, if I may ask?"

"Engineering, with a working knowledge of medicine and the basic sciences." Alexander replied.

"Useful things to know in the wasteland kid," Walter said, "I got a deal for you if you like to hear it?"

"Sure, doesn't cost anything to listen," Alexander said.

"Well, I could occasionally use a spare pair of hands around town to do the odd job, and with your knowing of engineering, you'd be a good lot of help, and If you do help out, I'll fill both your bottles for free each day, how does that sound?"

"Sure if I can help I will," Alexander said, "But, if I get word of my father, I am going to have look, you understand? That is my first priority."

"Completely understandable lad, and praiseworthy," Walter said. "For now though, if you happen to notice any leaks in the pipes about town, you can come see me, I'll organize some replacement pieces and if'n when you call in tomorrow for your refill, I'll get you to take a look at one of my pumps, I can't get the thing going, but maybe you can, fair deal?"

"Deal." Alexander said, thinking the task easy enough, the pay out worth it, remembering Silver and Crow's advice on water.

"_Out here, water is life."_ They had both agreed on that point, and Alexander had taken the lesson to heart.

"Ok then young fella, I got to be getting back to the old girl," Walter said, standing up and indicating the previous room in general with a wave of his hand. "Been nice talking to you, an look forward to seeing you again. Oh, and let me just fill your other bottle before you go."

Standing himself, Alexander thanked Walter and after getting his second bottle filled, made his way out of the building back onto the cat walk.

"_Didn't I see a sing for a clinic on that post?"_ Alexander thought to himself, wandering back that way to check, and on arriving, found the clinic sign pointing down the decline into the bomb pit, as he had privately designated it. "_Well, I'm gonna have to go near it sooner or later I suppose." _Alexander thought to himself, skin crawling at the thought of going near the bomb. "_Shit, I'm dead if it goes off anywhere within a mile of this place anyway."_ The forced bravado sounding lame, even to himself.

Walking carefully down the decline, between two of the pipes Walter had mentioned, and not noticing any leaks, Alexander passed a ramp leading up to the catwalks again, this time with another sign, indicating the saloon and supply shop could be found in that direction.

A few more steps brought Alexander about twelve feet from the bomb, seemingly larger and far more imposing up close. A faint clicking from his bag sent his hand digging inside it, pulling his pipboy to where he could see it from the opening of the bag, the radiation counter was ticking, showing point one background rads. "_Only about as much as the power rooms of the vault."_ He thought, replacing the pipboy at the bottom of his bag. To his left he saw a long bench, two people sitting at it, eating and drinking, a man with an eyepatch, and a striking young woman with blond hair, talking softly. A woman with dark reddish hair leaned against the wall of the building behind the bench, looking uninterestedly at a group of people gathered around the left hand side of the bomb, seemingly listening to man who was standing ankle deep in a pool of water the bomb's nose was resting in. "_Madness."_ Alexander thought, not for the first time.

To his right, below a sign that read Clinic, was a door at the top of a ramp. After a last look at the man standing the water, and shrugging his shoulder strap, Alexander walked up the ramp, opening the door to the clinic.

Stepping inside, a dark skinned man, again with white hair sat behind a desk, reading a piece of paper. Looking up, the man spoke. "I don't know you, so here's the way it is, Yes, I am the doctor, Doc Church, Rule one, don't bother me, and if you do need to bother me, you better be damn near dead, I'm a busy man. Now what do you need?"

Grinning for the first time in a long time, Alexander couldn't help liking this man immediately. "You sound a lot like my father, complaining about people with minor problems." He said.

"Sounds like a wise man than," Doc Church said, his manner softening a little, "A doctor your father than?" He asked.

"Yes, from vault one oh one." Alexander replied, having decided that in certain situations the truth could be shared, and this man reminded him of his father.

"Really?" Doc Church said, "Not James Hetfield? Mid forties, greying hair, about your height.."

"YES!" Alexander shouted, jumping on the knowledge, "You know him, you've seen him? Is he still here?"

Surprised at the reaction, Doc Church raised a single eyebrow. "Calm down, let me answer," He said. "Yes I know him, met him the day before yesterday, late in the afternoon, he sold me some medical supplies from the vault, good stuff you got down there, No, I don't think he's still in Megaton, he said he had to see Moriarty of all people after he left here, and the next morning I understand he was out the gate as soon as it was opened."

"SHIT! Shit Shit SHIT!" Alexander swore, slumping down in a chair that was set on the wall across from Doc Church's desk.

"Moriarty, it all comes back to him." Alexander said, "Well, if dad saw Moriarty, I guess it's my turn to go see him, maybe he can tell me where he went." Standing up after his statement, in the moments silence that followed, Alexander's stomach rumbled audibly.

"Son, if your gonna lock horns with that man, best to do it on a full stomach, come on, I'll buy you an early lunch at the Brass Tavern." Doc Church said, standing himself.

Leaving the clinic with Doc Church, Alexander noted the chairs at the bench top were deserted now, _"After breakfast and not quite lunch, much the same as the vault._" He thought, taking an end chair, with Doc Church taking the next chair.

"Hi Doc who's your friend then?" The dark red asked, moving up to the bench with a friendly smile.

"Jenny, this is Alexander, Alexander, Jenny." Doc Church introduced.

"Alexander eh? Well then welcome to your first meal at the Brass Lantern." Jenny said.

"Nice to meet you Jenny." Alexander replied

"So where did you spring from Alex?" Jenny asked.

"A hole in the ground." Alexander replied, the question and the diminutive of his name suddenly grating on his nerves.

Giving him a strange look, Jenny's smile slipping for a moment quickly reappeared.

"So what'll it be?" She asked, looking at the Doc.

"Two dishes of Mole Rat Stew Jenny, put them both on my tab." The Doctor said, giving her a grandfatherly smile. "Everything still all right with you?" He asked, and Alexander sensed that the question might have been more professional then just courteous.

"Fine thanks Doc, won't be a moment." She said, turning and entering the house calling to someone inside as the door shut.

"What's the deal with the guy with the death wish?" Alexander asked, indicating behind them with a flick of his head at the semi circle of people sill crowding around watching the man standing in the puddle of water next to the bomb.

Grinning predatorily the Doctor leaned towards Alexander a little. "Damn fool, that's Confessor Cromwell he's the head of 'The Church of the Atom' or some such garbage. Preaches something like every atom is a world or some such shit, I've never bothered to listen, and every two weeks when I have to flush the radiation out of him, when he sneaks into the clinic, it's Rule one, don't bother me while I'm working or you can put up with the radiation cramps."

Alexander spent the next few minutes telling Doc Church the abbreviated story of how he had come to be out of the vault. He was getting into a rhythm with his story, able to outline the salient points, and omitting those he wished to keep back with out any problems.

When Jenny returned a few minutes later carrying two heaped steaming bowl of stew, Alexander tentatively tried a small bite, and was again amazed by the texture and taste, the meat being tender and juicy, with small pieces of a floury substance that melted in the mouth on the side, and small round balls that crunched, and contained a fair amount of heat, a nice accompaniment.

After the meal, for which Alexander thanked the Doctor on the way back to the clinic, he excused himself at the ramp, turning to face the incline to the gate, and headed for the first ramp he had come to on his way down, the sign post indicating that he could get to the Saloon from there, and turning left, headed up to the elevated walkway. Walking over a flat section, it occurred to Alexander, after he looked to his left and saw the clinic sign, that he was the roof of the clinic, he came to another ramp, and followed it up. Cresting the ramp, Alexander found that he had come to another flat section, and that a doorway to his right led into a building that, according to the sign on the wall, was called The Crater Side Suppy.

Alexander had thought to make straight for the Saloon, but an idea came to him as he was passing the door. "_Every one has told me not to trust this Colin Moriarty, so maybe I should have an idea what my trade items are worth before going there. And a supply shop should be able to give me an idea of what the average worth of them are." _And with that thought, Alexander turned and walked to the door.

Entering Crater Side Suppy, Alexander found himself seemingly transported into a story that he had read of in the vault, Aladdin's cave. Myriad objects on shelves lined the walls, heaped one on top of the other until it was difficult to tell where one object ended and another began. Wires hung on hooks against the wall the door was set in, and a few protective suits of what Alexander now knew to be Brahmin skin leather hung on the wall behind the counter. "_That's a vault jump suit!"_ His brain registered, locking on one of the pieces. "_It's been changed a bit, but that's definitely a vault suit."_ He thought, looking at a vault one oh one jump suit that had pieces of Brahimin skin leather attached somehow, extra pockets, and a large belt, with custom made holster as well as pouches around it. "_Amazing."_ Alexander thought to himself.

Pieces of metal where stacked in a couple of containers to the left of the door, an internal door leading to another room on the wall to his left. There was a small crowded work top, with a few familiar looking tools spread around it, as well as a small vice and other odds and ends. There was a balcony making up part of the roof in this room, with the very middle section being open, making the roof of the room over twelve feet high. The opposite end of the room had a variety of containers, lockers, cabinets, and free standing shelves, all piled high with assortments.

To the right a bench stretched halfway down the room, actually clutter free, with only a small box radio and a few clipboards on it. An actual working computer, _"Terminal's they call them out here."_ Alexander remembered, sat on a small table just past the end of the bench, the screen lit up but empty. More shelves were standing next to the terminal table, these, like the bench were actually orderly, stacked on them were various containers, mostly see through, of a multitude of sizes and shapes. Each container seemed to hold a different substance, with Alexander thinking he recognized a few.

Alexander had barely taken all this in when a woman who would have been about thirty in Alexander's estimation, with rich, blood red hair colour, the like he had never seen before, and which couldn't have been natural, bounced up from below eye level of the bench, dressed in a jump suit, but different to the vault one he was wearing, she had freckles across her nose and forehead, and a bright smile that lit up her face. "Hi there," She beamed at Alexander, "Welcome to Crater Side Supply, don't mind the smell." She said.

"What is it?" Alexander asked, as a smell assaulted his nose, and made his lunch churn in his stomach.

"Sulfur," The woman answered promptly, "I was looking at it, wondering what I could do with it, when I dropped the glass jar, and well, the rest is just a smell in the air." She shrugged, then smiled brightly again. "Anyhoo, as I said, welcome to Crate Side Supply, I'm Moira, what can I do for you?"

"Umm, don't really know, was just curious really," Alexander said a little surprised by the woman's upbeat manner. "I was wondering, well, actually, I'm new in town, and I had some questions I suppose, about, well, what things are worth, I don't actually have any 'caps', but I do have some items I've been told trade well, and I was kinda looking for someone to tell me, what, if anything they would be worth around town."

"Sure," Moira smiled. "I can help you with that, I really don't get many customers til later in the day anyway, so whatcha got?"

"Um, lemme see," Alexander said digging in his bag and placing a single example of each on the bench. "A single bottle of vodka, four bottles of this whiskey rotgut stuff, three packs of cigarettes and three cartons of cigarettes. And my name's Alexander by the way, nice to meet you Moira."

"Alexander, nice name," She beamed at him, inspecting the items, "Well, I'd give you Eight for the vodka, five each for the whiskey, and six for the packs of ciggies, and lets say twenty eight each for the cartons, how's that sound?" She said, putting the items back on the bench after she had had a look at each.

Quickly totaling the numbers in his head, Alexander thought, "_Eight, twenty, eighteen and eighty four, one hundred and thirty, not quite the one thirty eight that Crow said, but close enough."_ Aloud he said, "That seems very fair Moira, thank you, I'm not ready to trade yet, but thanks for the information."

"That's quite ok Alexander," She replied, "Tech and mech are my favorite trade goods, if you ever happen to come across anything strange along those lines, I give top cap for them."

"_Tech and mech."_ Alexander thought, and aloud said, "Technical and mechanical items you mean?"

"Yeppers," Moira responded, "I love tinkering with odd stuff like that, trying to see what makes them work, adapting stuff for other stuff, it's real fun, you know?" She said, her excitement and enthusiasm showing.

"Yeah," Alexander agreed, "I don't mind doing a bit of that kind of stuff either..."

"Really?" Moira exclaimed, "Oh then when you have some spare time, come back and I'll show you some of my current projects, that'll be so much fun."

"I'll definitely do that Moira," Alexander said, meaning it. he was intrigued by what this hyperactive women would have been able to make, surrounded as she was by all the bits and pieces in her shop. "I've got to go see someone right now though, but when I'm finished, I'll try and drop by."

"Ok, looking forward to it." Moira answered.

As he turned to leave, Alexander had one last look around the shop, "Before I do go though Moira, do you sell weapons or ammunition at all?" Alexander asked, not seeing any visible.

"Of course," She replied. "I got revolvers, semi auto pistols, a couple of shotties, no rifles of any kind at the moment though, Simms had me repair his and his watchmen's the other day, and I had to strip all mine for spare parts."

"Shotties?" Alexander asked, perplexed.

"Shotguns." Moira answed, her smile returning after her frown for her lack of rifles.

"Ok, thanks again Moira." Alexander said, opening the door and exiting the shop.

"_My God!," _He thought. "_Hyperactive plus, excitable, enthusiastic and happy. At least someone in this forsaken land is positive I suppose. But man, I can't imagine spending a considerable amount of time in her company. Would be interesting to she how she would cope with vault life. Heh, and how the vault would cope with her."_ The thought brought a smile to hie face, and elicited a slight chuckle. _"Would drive Amata insane, but might also make her a bit less serious too."_

Digging in his bag, after checking no-one was paying too close attention, Alexander brought his pipboy up to the opening. "_Just after one,"_ He thought, "_Time to meet Colin Moriarty." _And replacing the pipboy at the bottom of his bag, and looking around, spotted a ramp going up to his right that connected to a cat walk that led to the saloons's door.

Following the ramp up and around, and finding and using the male toilets before continuing, Alexander paused at the door, mentally preparing himself for first encounter with a man that so far everyone who had said anything about him said was a devious, greedy man to say the least.

Entering the saloon, a quite buzz surrounding the place of people in conversation was the first familiar thing that Alexander noticed. Looking around, and stepping past the threshold he counted about ten or twelve people, mostly sitting in chairs or on stools, around the large room. Like Moira's place, there was a balcony around a hole in the roof, with doors on the second floor visible, and a set of stairs leading up there on his left.

A table and single chair set next to the bottom of the staircase was occupied, a bearded man sitting there, his eyes focused on a young woman with short red hair, slightly lighter and redder than Alexander's but far less bright than Moira's. The woman was leaning against a wall near the back of the room, a sheet or curtain hanging from the roof on her right, smoking a cigarette was wearing a skirt that was at least half the size of those the girls in the vault wore on their layover's when they wanted to attract attention from the boys. She also had a skin tight pair of what looked too thin to be pants, but could not be classed as socks, reaching as the did from her feet right up to under her skirt, and although, or maybe because, they were a bit ragged, they made the woman's legs look superb. Klossner from Crow's caravan was just off to her left, talking to her, also smoking a cigarette, his assault rifle slung over a strap on his back.

Two men and a woman, the men dirty and tired looking, the woman blonde and striking, young but severe looking, sat on at the bench on the left, facing the wall to Alexander's right, the men talking between each other, the woman merely staring at nothing, a glass in front of her almost empty, while the men both had brown bottles in their hands, and were swigging with apparent relish.

Sitting on the stool's at the bench in front of him, Alexander saw two men, their feature not obvious as their backs were to him seemed to be in conversation with a man behind the bar. On casting his eyes at the man, Alexander, fore warned by Silver, was able to keep his features composed, as his brain supplied the obvious. "_That's gotta be the ghoul Sliver was talking about, Gob, if I remember correctly."_ The ghoul's face and arms were without most of it's skin, the muscles and sinews showing were pink and healthy looking though, Alexander thought, and most of his hair was gone, only a few wisp's left, and both his lips were also mostly missing. His eyes were a clouded blue, though they seemed to work, the ghoul easily filling a glass as Alexander watched.

Shifting his gaze further around the room, Alexander saw a man wearing what he had found out from Crow was called a hat, this one with a brim going completely around it, and a funny coloured pair of glasses, the lens' shaded. The man was the best dressed person that Alexander had seen in his time in the wasteland, his pants and jacket very obviously having been recently washed, in what would have to have been an extravagant waste of water. The man seemed to have a small smile, much like Crow's, like he knew a joke that no-one else knew.

To his immediate right, a man and a woman were sitting at a small round table ,the man would have been older than his father, with close cropped hair, and a rifle different to the ones Alexander had seen so far, with a much smaller magazine and a lever on one side slung over his shoulder, the woman a stunning young blonde, though older than himself, who he realized he had seen earlier, sitting at the Brass Tavern, talking to the man with the eye patch. The man was obviously under the effect's of alcohol, his words slurring as he spoke. "Lucy, you tha most beautiful woman in dis town, wha, why don'tcha just gimme chance huh?

Not waiting to hear her response to such a line, Alexander moved forward to the bench, taking a seat at the extreme right end of it, noticing in passing a large barrel chested man, with the longest hair on a man he had ever seen, easily four inches below his shoulders, leaning against the wall, in a small enclosed space, a few feet to the left of the well dressed man.

"What'll it be, smoothskin?" The ghoul asked Alexander, moving down the bar to stand in front of him.

"Gob, right?" Alexander asked

"Yeah, that's right, but I don't know you do I?" The ghoul answered, and Alexander wondered about the voice. It sounded as if Gob had spent all day shouting, and his vocal chords were raw, the voice was that gravelly.

"No, I'm Alexander, but I've been told about you." He said, and continued. "I'm actually looking for information, maybe you could help me?"

"Maybe, what do you want to know?" Gob answered.

"I'm looking for a man, mid forties, greying hair, brown eyes, my height, slightly thinner than me." Alexander said.

"That's pretty vague, smoothskin, you just described every third man to walk into this place, got anything more specific?" The ghoul asked.

Motioning the ghoul forward, Alexander leaned over the bar a little towards him, and dropping his voice slightly added, "He would have been wearing a vault suit, same colour as this," He said, plucking at the sleeve of his own.

"Sorry, smoothskin, can't help ya with that one, you need to talk to Colin about that, orders." Gob said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well then is he available?" Alexander asked, leaning back into normal posture.

"Not right now, I'll tell him you want to see him when he's available." Gob said, "Gotta go smoothskin, if you want anything to drink, give me shout." And the ghoul moved off to serve the men at the left hand side of the bar, responding to their calls for more beer.

Entwining his fingers, and resting his arms on the bar in front of him, Alexander settled in to wait, noticing as he did so that Klossner and the short haired red head were moving off towards the stairs together, Klossner with a large grin on his face, and looking expectant. Gob came back after a minute, and fiddled with some of the dials on the box radio that was set on the bar to Alexander's right, even going so far as to hit it on the top with his open palm a few time.

"Come on, I want three dog, not the damn Enclave." He muttered, mainly to himself.

"Something wrong Gob?" Alexander asked.

Looking up at him, Gob's face actually managed to convey surprise, "Yeah, smoothskin, I can't get Three Dog on the radio, all I'm getting is this Enclave crap." He said, giving the box another bang.

"Three Dog? That's a station?" Alexander asked, knowing a little about radio's and stations because they had been the major piece of communication used to inform residents of the situation of the war before the bombs fell, according to vault history.

"No, Three Dog is a man, Galaxy News Radio is the station I'm after." Gob said, giving up on the radio and turning to face Alexander.

Gob seemed about to say more, when a door slamming shut behind him caused him to turn, and Alexander noticed a disheveled woman with brown shoulder length hair emerge from a door behind the bar. Without stopping or looking at anyone, the woman walked quickly to the stairs, moving up them one at a time, and across the balcony from left to right in Alexander's line of sight, a door opening and closing indicated that she had entered a room up there.

"Lemme check if the boss is receiving smoothskin." Gob said, turning and walking to the door and tapping on it. He must have gotten a response, because he then opened the door, dissappearing inside the room, not quite closing the door behind him, and returning again within thirty seconds.

"Ok smoothskin, the boss'll see ya now, good luck." Gob said to Alexander on his return, before moving off to fill the glass of the man to Alexander's left.

_"OK, this is it."_ Alexander thought, getting up from his chair and moving around the room, walking past the bar to the door and knocking on it."

"YEAH! Come in." A voice shouted to his response, in a thick accent that Alexander had never heard before.

Opening the door, and moving into the room, Alexander found himself being examined by an man who looked like he would have been about ten years older than his father, with white hair on his head and face, the latter being above his top lip, and a longish, thick growth under his chin, stretching an inch towards each ear. Cold looking light blue eyes regarded him from under bushy white eyebrows. The man who had to be Colin Moriarty was sitting behind a desk, a small pile of papers by his left hand, and a bottle of whiskey by his right, a small empty glass set next to it.

"What are you looking at kid? Ya ain't gonna be fucken me, so stop staring and state your fucken business, I'm a busy man see." Colin barked at Alexander.

Realizing he was staring when he should have been talking, Alexander moved past the threshold, and when Colin pointed at a chair opposite himself, Alexander sat down, pulling his bag around onto his lap.

"Colin Moriarty?" Alexander asked.

"Course I fucken am kid, now whadda ya want?" The man replied.

Organizing his thoughts quickly, Alexander began. "A couple of things please, mister Moriarty, number one, I'm looking for my father, mid forties, my height..." Was as far as he got before Colin interrupted him.

"Yeh, I know that part, your looking for James." Colin said, smiling wickedly at Alexander's response.

"Yes! Do you know where i can find him, I understand that he came here to talk to you." Alexander asked.

"Yeah, I know James, first met him, oh eighteen, nineteen years ago, came through here, a squealing fucken brat in his arms, I take it that was you, huh kid?"

"What? You can't have met my father nineteen years ago, we were born in vault one oh one." Alexander said, giving away more than he wanted to in his surprise at such a blatant lie.

"You calling me a fucken liar you little pissant?" Colin said, his voice steadily rising, "Do that again, and I'll slit your fucken half smart fucken throat you little fucken prick, and leave you out for the fucken crows ta pick your body over."

Startled by the man's sudden outburst, Alexander tried to diffuse the situation. "I apologize, mister Moriarty, it's just that, well, I've spent my life in the vault, and was always told we were born in the vault and we'd die in the vault."

"Yeah, well you weren't fucken born there, take it from me, and consider yerself fucken lucky, that's a freebie, anymore info you want's gonna cost boyo." Colin replied, still radiating anger.

"Ok, but you have seen him recently? Did he say where he was going?" Alexander asked.

"Yes and Yes." Colin replied, calming down a little. "I'll tell ya where he went, if'n you got the caps to pay for it, five hundred of them it's gonna cost."

"Five hundred!" Alexander exclaimed. "I don't have anywhere near that."

"Well then, you got a couple of options then the way I see it. You can give up on finding your dear fucken daddy, or you can earn the caps somehow." Colin replied.

"I do have some trade items," Alexander said, still shocked at the price the man was asking for a piece of information.

"Well show me what you got then." Colin said, starting to get bored with the conversation. "An be quick about it, I got things to do you know."

Digging into his bag, Alexander silently placed one of each item on the mans desk.

"Hmm, vodka, ten caps, Whiskey, seven, pack of cigs, four, and twenty four for a carton." Colin said, tapping each item in turn.

"_One hundred and twenty two." _Alexander thought. "_Less than I'd hoped."_ Aloud he said, "Ok, thanks mister Moriarty, I'm not ready to trade yet, I don't know what else I might need, so I'll hang onto it all for now."

"No problem boyo." Colin replied, sizing Alexander up with his eyes. "Tell you what, I'll can set you up in a fucken position that'll earn you some caps if ya want, plenty of guys around wanting a nice sweet ass to fuck, whatta ya say?"

"Um no thanks, not my scene mister Moriarty."

"No problem boyo, then I guess I'll be seeing you when you got some caps then?" He said, reaching for a piece of paper, indicating that he was finished talking to Alexander.

"One more thing, mister Moriarty," Alexander said, not quite finished, "I understand that you might have a bounty out on someone, I was wondering if we could talk about that?"

"Oh yea? And where might you have heard that then boyo?" Colin asked, fixing Alexander with a stare.

Alexander had been ready for this question, and replied, "Crow, the carvaneer, I met him on the way to Megaton."

"Yeah, and you think you can fulfill a fucken contract do you? I have my fucken doubts on the score boyo." Colin said.

"Well, if you'll tell me about it, I might be able to surprise you, and the caps for it will help me pay for the information, so it's a win win for you, either way, isn't it?" Alexander said, pleased with what he had been able to come up with.

Looking at Alexander, Colin wondered just what the boy was hiding, it was obvious he was not telling all he knew, and Colin didn't like that. He was considering telling Alexander to forget it, but the chance was there, and caps were involved, so he decided to give him a go.

"Ok boyo," Colin said "I used to have a whore working here, fucken cunt, name o Silver, she stole a heap o caps from me and took off, fuck know's where she got to, but if you can find her, bring the cunt back here alive and I'll give ya the information about daddy dear, how's that?"

"Sound's fair," Alexander said, "Just out of interest, so I can know why I'm doing this, how many caps did she steal?"

"None of your fucken business boyo, just find the bitch and bring her back, that's all you need to know."

"Ok then mister Moriarty," Alexander said, "I'll be back when I can I suppose then." Thinking to himself, "_Shit that didn't work the way I'd hoped."_

"Good, now fuck off, I got things to do." Colin said, this time picking up a piece of paper, and, bending his head to read what was on it, ignored Alexander as he stood up and walked to the door of his office.

"_Well, that went about as badly as I could have hoped." _Alex thought to himself, walking to the door of the saloon, noticing that the short haired woman, who must have been a prostitute was back at her perch, leaning against the wall, smoking another cigarette.

Leaving the saloon behind, discouraged, Alexander thought to himself, "_Might as well go and see Moira again, some of that cheerfulness might rub off, and I could use some cheering up about now."_ He decided, and started walking back the way he had come.

Entering Crater Side Supply again, Alexander noted that the smell had dissipated somewhat, and that Moira was over at her workbench, the box radio that used to be on the bench in pieces in front of her, as she seemed to examining each component.

"Hey Moria." Alexander said in greeting, giving the woman a small start.

"Oh," She said, dropping the piece she had in her hands and spinning around to face him, "Hey Alexander, your back." Her bubbly voice lifting his spirits somewhat.

"Yeah, I got nothing to do right now, so I thought I'd see what your up to." He said walking over to the bench, "What's with the radio?"

"I can't seem to get GNR she said, only something about the government, and no music." Moira pouted, "I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with it, I like the music Three Dog plays."

"Hmm, Gob can't get Three Dog either, I wonder if it might be a question of reception rather than a problem with the actual radio." Alexander mused. "Have you tried an external antenna at all? That might improve your chances of getting it working." Alexander said.

"WOW! That's a great idea Alexander, let me just.." And spinning back around to the workbench, Moira began reassembling the radio. "Can you have a look around for something we can use Alexander?" She said over her shoulder.

"Sure." He replied, thinking back "_Now, a wire to connect from the radio to the antenna, and any thinnish piece of metal should do to receive the radio waves." _That's what Ian had told him back in the vault anyway.

The wire was easy, as Alexander had already spotted coils hanging on the wall from his previous visit, and after a few minutes rummaging around, found a small thin and flexible piece of steel, and bent it into a circle, twisting both ends around each other, and wrapping one end of the wire around the twist. Finished, he turned to where Moira was just putting the box back on the completely reassembled radio.

"Right then, if we attach this end of the wire to the stub that used to be the built in antenna we should be able to move this end," And Alexander waved the steel end around, "into a position that will give us the best chance of receiving radio waves from where ever the transmitter is, right?" He said, looking at Moira.

"That's right, how do you all this Alexander?" Moira was looking at him slightly wide eyed.

_"Ah well might as well tell her."_ He thought. "I came out of a vault a couple of days ago, I was learning engineering down there, and like I said before, I've always liked to tinker with things."

"Now that's amazing," Moira said. "We'll have to sit down and talk so I can pick your brain, this is wonderful, the technology you must have had down there would have been fantastic to see, can you tell me about it?"

"I can, and will Moira, but not right now please, I've not gotten over having had to leave yet ok?" He replied.

"Oh," Moira said, obviously dissappointed at not being able to begin digging immediately, but her gregarious nature quickly rebounded. "Sure, ok then, just promise me you wont forget please Alexander." She said, and plowed on at her usual breakneck speed. "Now, lets try this radio shall we." Giving him a bright smile, she carried the radio back to her bench, where she reattached to power cord to a fission battery and looked at Alexander expectantly.

Grinning back, her enthusiasm contagious, Alexander started moving around the room holding the aerial in different positions, the result being slight changes in the static that was issuing from the speakers, but no clear signal. "Maybe outside might be the answer." Alexander said, and made his way outside, leaving the door open.

After a few attempts, the best they were able to achieve was a faint echo, still over laced with static, which Moira took as a positive sign, praising Alexander on his idea and knowledge. "Maybe if we could get up to the roof, or even on top of your sign we might get a stronger signal." Alexander said, wanting badly for something to work to give his moral a boost, and determined that this little project was going to be it.

"Well, there is a ladder around the back, and that would be the best place to start, you can stand on the first floor roof there, because it's built into the crater side." Moira had opinioned, still enthusiastic.

"Ok, I'll have a go then, you'll have to extend the length of the wire while I'm getting up there." He said, and headed off that way.

Arriving at the rear of the building, Alexander examined the ladder. "_Worse than the one from the other day."_ He thought, but lifted it up, and figured that it was up to the task, if he was careful and avoided the missing and broken rungs. Climbing the ladder carefully, Alexander set one foot on the roof of the second story, gingerly testing his weight before stepping off onto the roof with both feet. The metal and tin sheets bowed a little, but supported his weight, and Alexander carefully and slowly made his way to where the 'Supply' sign was rigged, on top of a large metal cylinder which was tapered slightly and had some symmetrically shaped holes in it, at the end that jutted out over the walkway below. "_Wonder what was inside this thing?" _Alexander thought, looking at where the front part had been sealed off sometime in the past with more sheets of metal and tin.

The end that was on the roof ended in rough cut sheets of metal, rusty and split in places and Alexander wondered to himself. "_Now how do I get up their in one piece."_ Inspiration came after a few minutes thought, and pulling the ladder up behind him, moved it over to the shell of whatever it had been that the sign was now on top of. Climbing the ladder, Alexander gripped the support of the 'Y' to steady himself and climbed off the ladder, slowly straightening and holding on to the support until he felt himself able to balance.

Looking over the edge to the catwalk below, Moira grinned up at him, a small crowd of onlookers arrayed behind her talking amongst themselves.

"I've extended the wire to the radio and tied the aerial to another piece of wire Alexander," Moira called out to him. "there's a weight on this end." She continued, showing him a small piece of steel that she had tied to one end. "I'll throw this up to you, then you can use it to pull the aerial up ok?" She asked.

"Sounds good Moira, toss it." Alexander called back, "_Not a bad idea at all."_ He thought, reading himself to catch the weighted end.

It took three tries, but eventually Alexander had the aerial up on the roof with him. As soon as he held the aerial up to one of the letters, Moira dashed inside, and reappeared a few seconds later, "It worked Alexander, it worked!" She called up to him, positive buoyant.

With the wire that had been used to pull the aerial up, Alexander secured the makeshift aerial to one of the upright's of the 'Y' and, after giving it an experimental wiggle, began his decent, moving more confidently this time, and was soon back inside craterside supply.

Moira was waiting for him, the radio working, though there was still some background static. "It's working Alexander, isn't it wonderful? Just listen to that. Thank you so much for your help, I couldn't have done it without you." She exclaimed, as a gentle strain issued from the radio.

_Into each life some rain must fall  
>But too much, too much is falling in mine.<em>

Into each heart some tears must fall,  
>But some day the sun will shine.<p>

Turning the radio volume down, Moira turned back to Alexander. "Thanks again for helping me out, I'll have to repay you somehow, is there anything you need?" She asked.

A little overwhelmed by her barrage, and not quite focused after the exertation of the effort he had just undertaken, Alexander just shook his head.

"Well than, how about fifty caps credit?" Moira asked, "That way, if you do need anything, you just come and spend it out whenever you like."

"That sounds fine Moira, thanks." Alexander responded, picking his bag up off the floor behind the counter where he had left it.

"Aww, your not leaving already are you?" Moria asked.

"I need a little space right now Moira, need to clear my head, do a bit of thinking and have something to eat and drink." Alexander said, "But I'll be back later, I want to have a look at a few things I saw in here earlier."

"Ok then, bye for now and thanks again." She replied, turning back to the radio, leaning forward and putting her elbows on the bench, and resting her chin on her hands, a look of contentment on her face.

Leaving the shop and trying not to gain any more attention than he already had for clambering all over Moira's roof, Alexander made his way back around to the rear of the building, sinking to the ground in the shade being given off by the town wall and the building, and putting his bag on his lap. Digging around inside it, Alexander pulled out one of the bottles that Walter had filled for him just a few hours ago, but what seemed like days, and popping the top, tipped it to his lips and swallowed a few mouthfuls.

Setting the bottle to one side, he then pulled out the resealable container that Amata had filled with gruel before he had left the vault, and that Silver had filled with a combination of chopped up Brahmin steak and something she had called 'Mutfruit', a purplish soft textured morsel with a slightly salty taste that went well with Brahmin. Using his fingers as a fork, Alexander soon polished the meal off, washing it down with another draught of water.

Putting the containers back in his bag, Alexander once again checked his pipboy for the time. "_Twenty to three."_ He read, and replacing the pipboy at the bottom of his bag, positioned the bag behind him, and stretched out, laying down with the bag as a pillow, albeit a fairly chunky one, and stared up at the sky, lost in his thoughts.

Jerking awake, Alexander experienced a moment of disorientation, but quickly regained his wits, looking around and grabbing at where his bag was, and sighing with relief when his hand touched it. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Alexander pulled out both his half empty water bottle and pipboy, checking the time, "_Three twenty five, at least it wasn't a long nap."_ He thought, tipping his water bottle up and emptying the contents down his throat.

Now at least mostly awake, Alexander felt better, enough so that another meeting with Moira wouldn't drain him completely, and so, repacking his bag, he set off for the restrooms before calling on Crater Side Supply once more.

Moira had a few customer's and was busy talking to one when Alexander walked in, the radio still playing, the volume turned right down, but she still spared him a smile before returning her attention to the man who was trying to get the price of a fission battery down, from what Alexander could make out as he walked passed.

Exploring what the shop had to offer, Alexander poked around through containers, finding pieces of pipe, radio and computer parts, small motors, a medium sized water pump, pieces of scrap metal, wiring connectors, and a hundred other bits and pieces that weren't readily identifiable. Examining the few pieces of Brahmin skin leather armour suits, Alexander was intrigued with the craftsmanship, given that whoever had made them didn't have the vault's automatic looms, and probably not any of the powered stitching machines that were available down there, they were well made, the seams minimalistic, and the coverage afforded looked quite good.

"Hey Alexander, you're back again." Moira said, coming over to where he was standing, about to peruse the shelves next to the computer, "_Computer, terminal, whatever."_ He thought.

"Yes, back again,: Alexander replied. "With a couple of questions for you actually, if you can spare a few minutes."

"Sure. No problem, what can I help you with?" She asked.

"Well, I need caps, far more than I realised I would, and far more than I have, and you mentioned that you would be interested in technological and mechanical items, correct?" He asked.

"Yeppers, I can never get enough." She grinned at him.

"Well, could you recommend anywhere around here that I could go scavenging to find some? And is there anything else that I could keep a look out for that you might like to trade for?" Alexander asked.

"Oh goody, this is just what I needed, someone willing to do a bit of scavenging, because I do actually have a few requests for items that I don't currently have in stock, so if you could find them for me, I could definitly give you a good deal, let me just check." Moira said, and walked back to her bench, and searched through a few pieces of paper that were stacked on a shelf underneath.

"Right," She said, "Fission batteries, I always need more of them, and they are fairly common around places, you can find them in the strangest places, so any of them you find, I'll definitly take," Flipping a few papers before continuing, "Ah, yes, plain old paper, quite a few orders for that, the best price is for blank sheets for writing on, but everyone uses paper, for umm, you know, so if you find any books that are illegible, I'll also take them, though they're not worth all that much, not compared to actual readable, is that a word?" She asked, her infectious smile breaking into her serious countenance, for a moment, before returning to a serious nature, the longest time that Alexander had seen her face serious in the time that he had spent with her. "Anyhoo, readable books are worth heaps, I'll take any of them you find for myself. Umm." And she flicked through some more papers, before continuing. "Hmm, got a request here from Simms, he wants some land mines, so any of them, just don't blow yourself up as a way of finding them, and oh yeah, both Doc Church and Jenny Stahl have asked me to point any scavengers that come through in their direction, not sure what Jenny needs, but Church is always looking for medical supplies. Umm, and that's everything of a speciality nature, besides any weapons, armour and ammo that you find, and of course any tech or mech." Moira finished, her customary smile returning.

"As to where to find them," Moira continued, "Well, I know a few places locally, but you'll be amazed at what you can find in the strangest places. But back on topic, I'd recommend the old Springvale school to the North, since it was a school, I'd hazard a guess that books, and maybe paper might be found there, though it has been a raider hangout in the past, so if your going there, I'd say be prepared. I don't know where you would find land mines, though raiders might have set some around their bases, so you might find some at the school, but like I said, be careful. I assume Jenny might want some food or drink supplies, and there is an old shop to the North East, it's a really big building, so you should be able to find it pretty easily, but you should also talk to her or her brothers first. As for fission batteries, well like I've said, there're everywhere around the wasteland, but in particular there is an old abandoned robot factory to the South West that would probably have heaps there, and I haven't heard of anyone ever scavenging there. For Doc's medical supplies, I have no clue where to find them, so you'll just have to get lucky, or maybe ask him if he knows where you might find some. Whew, and that's it I think." Moira finally finished, grinning brightly at Alexander. "It's a lot to take in, but I'm sure you'll do all right Alexander."

"Wow, that is a lot Moria, I think I'll have a look at the Springvale you said?" He threw a questioning look at Moira, who nodded, "School first, it's probably closest, and I think I saw it yesterday." Privately thinking to himself, "_And Silver and I took care of those raiders yesterday, so it should be easiest." _Continuing aloud he said, "And I might just have a look at something over here that I noticed earlier if that's ok?"

"Sure, help yourself." Moria replied, and turning at the sound of the door opening and a man entering, moved back behind her bench.

Moving to the shelves next to the terminal table, with the neatly stacked containers on them Alexander scanned a few names of chemicals that he was familiar with, "_Sulfuric acid, manganese dioxide, sulfur, calcium sulfate, lead, molybdenum, copper, tin, coal, charcoal, palladium, cadmium, zinc, potassium nitrate."_ And with reading the last label, a mnemonic memory association kicked in.

"_**Gunpowder **__: A mixture of Sulfur, Charcoal and Potassium Nitrate at the ratio of seventy five percent potassium nitrate, fourteen percent charcoal, and eleven percent sulfur, burns rapidly and is principally used as a propellant for firearms. When ignited it deflagrates at subsonic speed, generates heat, and a large displacement of gas. Needs to be tightly packed with as little air as possible in a casing and sealed, usually with the projectile to be fired, and ignition introduced, for the gas displacement to be effective. Can be used as an explosive. _

"_An explosive,"_ Alexander thought, turning an idea which was forming over in his mind. Turning and rummaging around in a container, he pulled out a small tin and examined it. "_Looks intact, except for the top." _He thought. Turning to where Moira was waiting for the man to dig in a bag he had, Alexander quickly walked over to her and asked, "Hey Moira, can I use your work area for a bit?"

"Sure Alexander, no problems." She replied a bit absently.

Moving back to the work bench, Alexander set the can down, moving back to the container's and picking around until he had a couple of hand fulls of fingernail sized pieces of steel, which he also added to the work bench. Getting down on his hands and knees, and using his hand as a brush, Alexander stood up after a couple of minutes with a double hand full of metal shavings.

By this time, the shop was empty again, and Moira had wandered over to where Alexander was working. "So what are you making?" She asked.

"Secret weapon." He said, turning to the woman and grinning, a grin which she matched. "What I really need is something that'll burn if I light it, but not too fast and not too slow, do you have anything like that?" Alexander asked.

"Ummm, let me think." Moira said, and after a few seconds, walked towards a cabinet on the end wall, pulling open a drawer and rummaging around. "AH ha!" She exclaimed, pulling a collection of small wires, covered with a strange material that Alexander couldn't identify, tied together with another wire of the same type. "I got this," Moira said. "They're called fuses, a few months ago, a man came through these things he called 'fireworks' and he set off a few for a demonstration for the town. Moriarty bought a heap of them off the guy, I can't remember his name, what was it? Oh well, anyway, he had these spare, with no fireworks attached, they burn for about four seconds from end to end, will they do?"

"That's perfect." Alexander said, taking the bound bundle and pulling a single length out and adding it to his pile of components. "Now, how about something to seal the top of this can?" He asked, holding up the tin can.

"Duct tape." Moria said promptly, retrievcing some from under her bench and bringing it to the work bench. "Your making a bomb, aren't you?" She said.

"Yeppers." Alexander said, using her word, his enthusiasm for once today equal to Moira's.

"What are you going to use for the detonation though?" She asked, a puzzled look on her face. "Ammo is far too expensive to be worth it. Isn't it?"

"Probably," Alexander said, "But you've got all the ingredients to make gunpowder on your shelves over there." He said, indicating the various chemical's, and pulling the container's labeled potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur down, and adding them to the bench top. "How much would all this cost me?" Alexander asked, suddenly aware that he probably didn't have enough trade items to pay for all this, his plan was going to be nipped in the bud.

"Tell you what Alexander, teach me how to make gunpowder, and I'll let you have what you need." Moira said, knowing just what Alexander was thinking, and willing to take the loss in the interest of knowledge.

"Thanks Moira." Alexander said, and explained to her the ratio of chemicals, the grinding necessary to create the fine powder, showing her by grinding the various substances there and then on the workbench with the face of a hammer.

Punching a small hole in the bottom of the tin with a screwdriver, smaller than the diameter of the wires, Alexander then inserted a fuse, making sure the it went to the middle of the bottom of the tin, before adding three small spoons full of the black powder he and Moira had ground. Shaking the tin gently to settle it, Alexander than added the steel pieces he had found, mixing in the steel shavings he had found off the floor, stopping the packing often to tamp the steel and shavings down with the handle of the screwdriver.

Slowly he built up the shavings and steel pieces until they were almost level with the top of the tin. Filling the remainder with shavings, and packing it in hard, Alexander than used the duct tape to cover the hole in the top of the tin, applying later after layer until finally, when he gave the finished item a shake near his ear, he could barely hear any movement at all. Happy with his work, and confident it would work, he turned to see Moira, for once speechless, staring at the bomb Alexander had just made in front of her, in less than half an hour.

"That's absolutely amazing Alexander, fantastic, I am impressed." She said finally, grinning up at him.

Grinning back, Alexander spoke. "Do you think I could make a few more, I'll pay if need be, the fifty caps for fixing the radio, and anything else I can spare, but I gotta keep a few things to buy something to eat with tonight, what do you think?"

Smiling this time rather than grinning, Moira said. "Make as many as you can with the chemicals that are left there Alexander, I'll take you up on your fifty caps, and I'd also like the bottle of vodka you have, that's my drink of choice, and I don't have much left, and I really don't like the saloon that much, so if I can get one off you, I won't have to go there, how does that sound?"

Alexander noticed that her personality changed slightly when she was dealing, becoming more serious and focused, but the excitability was obviously still there, just below the surface. "Deal." He said, picking up his bag from where he had left it on the floor next to the work bench and pulling out the bottle of vodka and handing it to the woman.

The next hour and a half passed pleasantly for Alexander, his attention focused on the task in front of him, hands and mind keeping busy, with Moira helping out between customers, a friendly silence passing between them as they worked until finally, the last tin bomb, as Alexander had privately designated them, finished the remaining potassium nitrate, leaving only charcoal and sulfur to go back on the shelves, and four tin bombs on the bench in front of him.

Scooping them up and placing them gently in his bag, Alexander checked the time, and was surprised to find that the afternoon had slipped away, with his pipboy telling him the time was just past five.

Thanking Moira for her help, and the deals they had made that day, Alexander left Crater Side Supply, intending to head to the clinic. Moving down the ramps, over the clinic roof, Alexander noted that being set in a crater, that the ground level around the bomb was shadowed, the light of the day fading quickly.

Not knowing where he was going to spend the night, Alexander decided that a meal was more important than visiting the Doctor again, and changed his path, heading instead for the Brass Lantern. Arriving after a few minutes walk, he was pleasantly surprised to find Doc Church sitting at the bench, the only customer for the moment. Sliding onto a chair beside him, Alexander greeted him. "Hello again Doctor."

"Alexander," The Doc replied, chewing on a piece of meat, his plate almost empty.

"Alex, nice to see you again, welcome back." Jenny said, coming out of the door behind the bench Alexander was seated at.

"Jenny, always a pleasure." Alexander responded, smiling this time, thoughts of his mood of the morning gone with his path somewhat clearer.

"Get you something?" Jenny asked.

"How much for whatever the good Doctor's having Jenny, and will you take whiskey or cigarettes as trade?" Alexander asked?

"Sure," She replied, "A pack of cigarette's it'll cost." She said, waiting while Alexander pulled his bag onto his lap and dug out a packet, handing it to the woman.

"One Mole Rat steak." Jenny called, after opening the door behind her, and putting the packet of cigarettes into a pocket.

"I'm actually glad I caught you both at the same place." Alexander said when she turned back around, alternatively addressing both Jenny and Doc Church. "I'm heading out to do some scavenging tomorrow, and Moira suggested talking to both of you to see if there was anything you were after, and where I might find them."

"Well, we could use some whiskey, and some wine if you find any, and any food at all that you find, I'll take absolutely." Jenny said, the doctor still eating, but looking at Alexander sideways. "Did Moira tell you about the Super Duper Mart over to the North East?" She asked.

"She mentioned an old shop over that way," Alexander confirmed, "but she didn't say what it was called."

"Well, if your over that way, or if you find anything, just bring what you find back to either me or my brother Andy, and well see you right." Jenny said, and turned back around and entered the building again.

"So, your heading out eh?" Doc Church asked, his plate empty in front of him.

"Yep, need some, hell a lot of caps to pay Moriarty so he'll tell me where Dad went." Alexander said.

"Well, medical supplies are always welcome at the clinic, so if'n you find any, bring em along, and we'll work out a price then." The doctor told Alexander.

"Don't suppose you'd know where I might be able to find any do you?" Alexander asked. "Like an abandoned clinic or something like that?"

"Yeah, I got a few places in mind, have your meal and we'll talk about it at my place," Doc Church said. "I'm guessing from the time that your not staying in the common room tonight are you?

"Common room?" Alexander asked, slightly confused, but remembering the sign post he saw that morning had indicated a 'common's', but not knowing what that was, Alexander had dismissed it, until now.

"Yeah," Doc Church said, "It's a house, up that way," And he pointed up to the left of Moriarty's Saloon, "Get's used as a place for anyone to sleep in overnight who doesn't actually live here, but the thing is, you gotta get one of the sleeping position's earlyish, cause when the gates are about to be closed, Simms and his boys do the rounds of town, and if the common room is full, which it always is, anyone not a resident or in the common room gets sent outside til the gates open in the morning. That's uaually why this place," And here Doc Church indicated the eatery where they were sitting, "Is deserted until the gates shut, and why I eats here about this time every day." He finished, and eyed Alexander again.

"Shit." Alexander breathed softly, concerned now about getting kicked out of Megaton for the night. "_Shit, I was supposed to go see the Sheriff this afternoon_." He thought

At that point, Jenny walked out the door, a plate of meat, covered in a sweet smelling sauce in her hand, which she placed in front of Alexander. "There you go Alex, enjoy." She said, and with that, turned right back around and headed inside again.

Alexander stared at the meat, and though it did smell good, his appetite had deserted him, the news that he would have to spend a night outside, amongst the smell, and with all those strange people around him driving it away. _"Could always go back to the water tower where I spent the first night, I suppose." _He thought, the idea of sleeping on solid steel less unappealing than the idea of sleeping outside with the other Megaton homeless.

"Like I said, we'll go back to my place after you've eaten, I'll tell you about some places you might find medical supplies, and since your father was, sorry, is a doctor, just this once, I'll extent to you some professional courtesy and let you camp on one of the patient beds, but if'n a case comes in, your on the floor, got that?" Doc Church asked Alexander.

"Oh, thank God," Alexander said, grabbing the lifeline. "Thanks Doctor, I really appreciate it." He said, and with the question of where he was going to sleep tonight sorted, Alexander picked up a knife and fork off the bench and began cutting at the steak in front of him.

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	6. Springvale Indepandence

Hello fellow fanfiction - villians

So the next chapter for your enjoyment (I hope).

Please review if you can spare a few moments either way, like it or hate it, tell me why.

Would like to know what your thinking of the non LW parts, billy creel, the BOS scene, Moriarity etc.

The next chapter is written, I just gotta spell check (which I hate with a passion) and do a last read through and I'll post it, so a day or two at the most should see my next installment.

As always, first and foremost I hope you enjoy, and would love any feedback.

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_**SPRINGVALE**_

During the little over an hours walk that it took to get from Megaton to Springvale, Alexander had been deep in thought, reflecting on the last two days since he had left the vault. He had made a few friends, counting Moira, Doc Church and Silver, and maybe Crow, among them.

Waking in the patients bed in Megaton's clinic, Alexander had felt the best he had felt since leaving the vault. No headache like he had had the previous morning, and no stiff muscle's from sleeping on steel like on his first night, just restful sleep.

Doc Church had told Alexander before he had gone to sleep the night before that the settlement of Grayditch had a clinic, and that since the last caravan coming from that direction had reported the place deserted, that it might be a good place to look for the much valued medical supplies.

Leaving the Clinic, Alexander had searched out Lucas Simms, finding him in what seemed to be his usual position, sitting outside his house at the table, his rifle propped up against it. It appeared that only one man in the town knew where his father had gone to, Simms had talked to his watchmen, and their answer was negative; they hadn't seen the man described, more concerned with looking out for raiders than a single man amongst the hundreds that existed around and in Megaton. And Alexander was of two minds whether or not Colin actually knew or was just trying for an easy score.

Thanking the Sheriff for his help, Alexander had next called on Walter, and though admitting that he hadn't looked for any leaking pipe's, still got his water bottles filled. The pump had taken him about a half hour to find the problem with it, a seized up impeller. A quick walk to Moira's had stopped the repair work, Crater Side Supply not being open when he got there. Taking a break from the repair's had seen Alexander fed, and a new name and face to put to one of Megaton's residents. Andy Stahl had hair the same colour as his younger sister's, but was a lot more brusk, even slightly contemptuous seeming to Alexander, with his early morning customers, of which he had quite a few. Alexander had eaten a bowl of mole rat stew, though it wasn't as nice as his previous experience with it, and it had cost him two more of his packs of smokes.

After eating he had been able to get to Moira's, open by now, and then he'd had to play messenger, running between Crater Side Supply and the Water Processing Plant, carrying offers and counter offers until finally Moira and Walter had agreed on a price, seventeen liters of water for Moira, in exchange for the impeller off the pump Alexander had seen in the shop the previous day. Stripping it out and replacing it in the Processing plant's pump had taken another hour

Getting shot at and shooting at others was still something that he was definitely not comfortable with, but as he had proven to himself, if he needed to, if it was them or him, then he could in fact do it and survive. Though his mind still threw guilt at him for his killing of Stevie Mack in the vault, it wasn't as bad now, after a couple of days reflection. The fact that Amata had a hand print on her cheek from Stevie's hand, that Stevie had attacked Alexander and that Alexander had found an entry in the Overseer's log about how Jonas hadn't broken his silence during Stevie's interrogation, an interrogation that had ended Jonas's life at Stevie's hands, made the guilt a faint throb.

Shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts, Alexander made his way over the rocky ground, walking past the fence around the water tower where he had spent his first night in the wasteland. Wondering now that he was getting close how Silver might have been holding up after their run in with the raiders, Alexander turned right, following the road today, avoiding the house where Silver and himself had taken cover against the raiders.

A short walk led him to a junction in the road, to his right was the house with the locked doors in the ground, where he had gotten the strapping to tie the armour he had been carrying that first morning. The large red rocket structure that he had seen on his first night out was on a corner of the junction, a largish tin sign had 'Megaton' written on it in paint and an arrow pointing to the East. A vehicle was positioned under the rocket structure, with another couple off to the east, in front of a pair of steel container's.

Examining the vehicles, which had been the source of the explosion during the fight with the raiders, Alexander remembered Crow talking about them. "_No-one I know knows how to get them going, what they run on, or anything about them, just that most of them are highly unstable, and a single bullet in the front or rear compartments can cause them to explode catastrophically. Not all of them react that way thought, with some being able to take any amount of punishment and not exploding." _

Alexander knew of cars, but they weren't part of any learning curriculum in the vault, having read about them in a maintenance manual that he found in Ian's workshop. The working of them were beyond any practical knowledge he had, knowing only that cars were a major reason that the War had begun, being a huge consumer of refined petroleum in the old world. The oil driven cars were being phased out in the decade leading up to the War, with atomic and fission power being a couple of the power systems being implemented to run them, and there was the impression that there were other types of power systems available, but the book hadn't actually stated anything about them.

Looking inside the container's Alexander was disappointed, there was nothing of interest except dust and dirt. Moving back to the rocket structure, Alexander noticed three round seals in the ground. Looking them over however, it seemed that they needed some sort of tool to open them. A small round indentation being present in the center of all three looked like the locking mechanism, and if the right tool was inserted, the lid might be lifted. "_If it isn't one solid fused hunk by now."_ Alexander thought to himself.

Turning North, Alexander spotted a children's playground on his left, knowing what it was and what activity each of the individual piece's of equipment where used for, from his favorite movie vid in the vaults small vid library. Walking past it, and up a small rise, he walked past a long pole, seemingly made of wood, with a pair of cross piece's near the top of it, was laying on top of another vehicle. "_Those look like transformers."_ Alexander thought, noting small metal objects attached to the horizontal cross pieces, making a mental note to ask Moira about them when he next saw her. Having a quick look at the base of the pole, Alexander noticed a small plaque attached to it. "_RPB-25" _He read. _"What the hell?"_

Shrugging his shoulder's at yet another mystery, Alexander did take a moment to memorize the plaque, dropping into his memory palace using a small stick as his trigger, attaching the words and numbers to it for easy reference.

Turning away from the pole, and quickly looking at where the raiders had been attacking from two days ago, Alexander noted the hulk of the vehicle that had exploded was still there, but there were no bodies. Wondering for a moment what had happened to the, he recalled that Crow had said that they had stripped the bodies for their armour. "_Must have moved them someplace then, that was good of them." _He thought, "_Wouldn't be nice to have that just outside your house."_

Shifting from the small open area, Alexander walked the fifty or so paces to Silver's house, continuing around the back, as looking from the front, Alexander could see his target, the large crumbling building he had seen the other day, about five hundred meters to the North East.

Arriving at the back door, Alexander knocked on the wooden door and waited for Silver. After about twenty seconds with no response, Alexander tried knocking again, calling out normal voice. "Silver? Silver, It's Alexander, are you there?"

When there was no reply, Alexander tried the door, turning the handle and pushing, and to his surprise, the door opened easily, squeaking softly as it did so. Calling out her name again, Alexander stuck his head inside, looking in the direction of the bed on the right hand side of the first room. Seeing no-one there, Alexander pulled his 10mm Glock 20, Moira had told him it was called, out of the holster that he had taken from the vault's security locker when he had gotten the armour.

"_Wish I had kept a full set of that stuff." _Alexander thought to himself, regretting having sold the mostly complete sets he had to Crow for a paltry packet of bullets. He did have a reinforced plastic chest plate out of a suit of a set on under his jump suit, it being the only thing he had scrambled into in the chaos and confusion following Amata's jarring wake up call. "_Won't stop a bullet, but might slow it down enough to stop me from getting killed if I'm shot." _He thought, fervently hoping that would never happen again, but deep down knowing the reality. Not that the set's he had sold would have stopped a bullet either, as he had the strongest part strapped to himself anyway, but it would have felt better to be wearing the full set.

Slowly, making as least noise as possible, Alexander walked to the door way to the next room, again sticking only his head through at first, and on seeing no one there, walked through the door way tot he table. A plate still on the table drew Alexander's attention, and wiping one finger across in, he felt the grease and juice that remained there, scattering a few flies as he did so. "_Well, it hasn't congealed yet, so Silver must have been here this morning."_ Alexander thought. "_She did say that she was trying to scavenge enough trade items to buy the bounty off her head. I wonder if she's had the same idea, since the raiders are dead, and is looking through the school." _He thought to himself. Deciding to return after his initial reconaissance, Alexander left the house and proceeded towards his target, the ruined building looming close by.

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_**TAKOMA PARK**_

Quietly slipping down the concrete floor of the hallway and coming to a stop at the head of the stairs leading down to the basement, Sydney and Emaline both had their guns held out in front of them, Sydney with her modified Heckler and Koch MP5, and Emaline with a scoped M4 Carbine. They had already encountered raiders patrolling the first and second floors of the library, culminating in a half an hour shoot out that had seriously depleted their ammunition reserves, Sydney being down to one and a half clips, and Emaline with only sixteen rounds in her rifle, and a backup nine round Desert Eagle pistol.

Moving down the stairs, Sydney leading two steps ahead of Emaline, the women came to a door at the bottom and Emaline moved against the wall to the right hand side, looking back at her friend. Sydney, her black shoulder length hair tied back at the moment in a small ponytail, took up position squarely in front of the door way, and nodded her readiness.

Emaline, leaving one hand on the trigger, reached out with her left hand and gently tested the door knob. Looking back at Sydney and nodding, she turned her head again to the door, and gently twisted the knob, locking her hand when she felt that she couldn't twist it any more, and with a quick shove pushing the door open, jerking her body back against the wall, giving Sydney a clear shot at any raiders that might have been in the room.

"Clear." Sydney said in a voice just above a whisper.

Taking her cue, Emaline swung around the door frame, rifle raised scanning for targets. Sydney quickly followed suit, breaking left to Emaline's right.

The room was actually junk free, more evidence that the raider's above had probably not been down this far, as Sydney had already had to jimmy one locked door, and they had blown open another with a small timed charge.

Looking around the room, Sydney registered the two desks, stacked one on top of the other, and a stack of chairs, legs of one fitting around the seat of the one below. Doors were in the North and West walls,

"Clear." Sydney whispered.

"Clear." Emaline acknowledged with the same volume.

Sydney pointed at the Western door. Emaline, her short spiky dyed light pink hair a beacon that was the only thing about her that annoyed Sydney when they were on jobs together, "_Why won't she cover it when they were out." _Sydney thought to herself, not for the first time, moved to the right hand side of the door, one hand on the knob, and looked back at Sydney.

Dropping again to one knee, Sydney brought her HK MP5 up, arms at full extension and nodded.

Swinging open the door and ducking back to cover, Emaline withdrew from Sydney's field of fire.

"_Movement, to the left." _Thought Sydney, her weapons swinging that way, finger squeezing the trigger, a single shot retort echoing off the enclosed walls before she could identify the target.

Emaline pulled back from the wall, weapon ready and aimed into the room towards the left hand side, ready to fire when Sydney spoke.

"Hold."

Standing and walking into what was obviously a cleaners room, with mops, buckets and packets of abraxo cleaner soap filling up an entire shelf of a five tier free standing unit. Brooms, dustpans, and other assorted cleaning equipment were stacked in an old locker that was minus it doors. Sydney looked down at disgust at what she had shot, cursing her trigger discipline. A normal sized rat, half it's side gone where her bullet had exited it, was on the floor where the impact had flung it, quite dead.

"Shit. I hate fucking rats. Of all fucking shapes." Emaline whispered to Sydney, having followed her in.

Sydney smiled thinly at the comment. They didn't bother her as much as her friend, Emaline having an obsessive hatred of the rodents, more so the smaller, unmutated ones than their larger cousins.

"Ok, North." Sydney indicated, business again, face set in a concentrated frown.

Testing the door, and finding it locked, Emaline shook her head at Sydney. Setting her MP5 on the floor beside the door, Sydney pulled out her lock pick's, two small pieces of metal, one a rod and one flat with a notch cut into one end. While Emaline stood off to the right, occasionally swinging her rifle in one hundred and eight degree sweeps, towards the door Sydney was working, and back the way they came, Sydney got to work. Pushing the rod into the bottom of the keyhole and pushed it as far back as she could, feeling for the tumblers. Finding the furtherest one, she dropped her end of the rod, pushing the tumbler up, and held the end in place.

Inserting the notched piece of metal above where the rod went in, Sydney quickly found the two remaining tumblers, and after a moments wriggling of her pick, found a position where she could lift both up. Holding onto both pieces firmly, she twisted her hands, and was rewarded with the small click that told her the lock was now open. Pulling both picks out, and sliding them into the little pocket at the collar of her olive green shirt that she wore under her armour, Sydney quickly picked up her weapon and got set in position, nodding at Emaline to open the door.

With the door open, the two women went into their sweep pattern, not really expecting raiders, but still wary. Rats had been copious in the building, the many books giving them ideal nesting material and the general sloppiness of the raiders habits leading to a utopia for them. After sweeping the room, the women relaxed slightly.

"Well, I hope there's something here." Emaline said, disgusted by the lack of valuable loot.

"Let's have a look shall we?" Sydney said, keeping optimistic. She knew from experience that after two hundred years, valuable historical items were rare, but could also be found in the strangest places. "_Our ancestors lived in a very different world than ours."_ She thought. "_What it strange to us, could have been normal for them, and vice versa."_

So far, the women's exploration of the library had yielded nothing out of the ordinary. All the loot that they had managed to collect so far amounted to a couple of assault rifles, one pistol that was worth carrying, a few bottle of water, which they'd already drunk, five full packet of smokes, and about twenty loose cigarette. "_Not exactly the haul of the year." _Sydney thought.

Half and hour later and Emaline summed up their finds. "There's fuck all here Syd." She said, disappointment in her tone.

"Seems that way Em." Sydney had replied, dropping the papers she had been looking through onto the floor.

The room had looked promising at first, with three tables, a few chairs, and lots of three drawer cabinets lining the wall, but their search had turned up nothing of any use. The desks had yielded a few dried up pens, some pencils, a stapler, which Sydney had pocketed, small ovalish clips and assorted other items of a stationary nature, but nothing spectacular, which was what the women were after.

Searching through the cabinets had held mixed emotions for both women, with hope accompanying every stuck drawer, that there might have been something in them since they had been undisturbed for so long, but all that had been in every one was eleven by fifteen inch folders, each one filled with inconsequential and generally indecipherable notations, letters and lists.

"Shit." Sydney swore, "Lets get outta her Em. There's nothing here."

Leaving the room together, the two women were almost to the door leading back up the stairs, when Emaline spoke. "Did you have a look in these desk's Syd?"

"No, actually I didn't." Sydney said, stopping in her tracks and turning around.

"May as well then." Emaline said, moving to them, and pulling the drawers out one by one.

After the third drawer, Sydney was convinced that this whole job had been a waste of time, but Abraham hadn't had anything for her to look for lately, so she had teamed up with her friend, and after checking over their respective maps of the Downtown Capital Wasteland, had decided on what was labelled on Sydney's map as a 'Public Library' in the old area of Takoma Park.

"What do you make of this Syd?" Emaline asked, handing over a medium sized book with a smooth plastic sheeting over the covers.

_The Declaration of Independence : A Global History. _Sydney read on the front cover.

"Huh, don't know Em," Sydney replied. "Never heard of anything like it."

"Well do you think that bloke in Rivet City will buy it?" Emaline queried, standing up, the one book the only thing worth looking at in the drawers. "Nothing else." She added to Sydney, who was flicking a few pages around the middle of the book.

"Says 'History' and he's interested in all that kinda shit, so we'll have a go I suppose." Sydney replied, closing the book and holding it in her left hand, her MP5 hanging in her right.

"Cool, so Rivet City tonight?" Emaline replied, pulling her rifle off her shoulder where she had slung it while searching, and grinning at Sydney, knowing what was going through her friends mind. She had been complaining for the last couple of nights that it had been ages since she'd been laid. Nine days even.

"Yup." Sydney grinned at her friend. "We'll see if that old fart Abraham can't set us up for a week or two of piss up's and partying." She said.

"Sounds good." Emaline said, "So got anyone in mind?" She asked, smiling mischievously.

"One or two, Em, One or two." Sydney replied.

OOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOO

_**SPRINGVALE SCHOOL**_

Two hours later, Alexander had made a complete circuit of the building. Starting just North East of Silver's palace, and using the terrain and buildings as much as possible as cover, had slowly worked his was East, along the short end of the building. A large sign on the South West corner of the roadway spoke of upcoming dates. _"Dates two hundred years gone." _Alexander thought, moving parallel to the wall from a distance, peering through the skeletons of trees that had once lined the pathway in front of the building. Closer inspection of the building had revealed that the damage that Alexander had seen from a distance, was much more pronounced up close. Every window either had rubble from collapsing walls or floors from the story above it protruding or else they had been covered over, some with sheets of tin and steel, others with wooded planks. The external walls were pitted and damaged in varying degrees, from small finger sized holes, to large chunks missing, to a section that had completely fallen down. There was no roof left at all, the top story's, or what was now the top story's walls all ended in great jagged points of steel and concrete, where they hadn't completely fallen down.

Moving around the Eastern side of the school, Alexander spotted a large steel edifice, fifty feet high he estimated. Slowing moving forward for a better look, and climbing a small rise, he found himself at the edge of a small drop, about eight foot, looking at the structure. Standing on four legs, made up of lengths of steel crossed at forty five degree angles, the structure rose up, getting thinner until about two thirds of the way up, it began fatten out again, making it look kind of like a crude 'T'. "_Power line suspender."_ His brain supplied. A small square fence of wire surrounded the pole, made of the same material that had surrounded the water tower where he and spent his first night. And much like that one, this one also had a gate. In a pile of dirt and rocks, directly underneath the pole, in between the four legs, Alexander could see what looked like round tanks.

Carefully climbing down the face of the rise his was on, Alexander made his way toward the fence, and abruptly stopped, nearly jumping in fright, as his pipboy, on his arm since he had gotten out of sight of Megaton that morning, began faintly clicking, the sound getting slightly louder with every step he took nearer the fence. Halting and retreating away from the fence caused the clicking to stop and Alexander to wonder, "_Must be something in those tanks that's radioactive, but what? And what are they doing there?" _

Shaking his head to dispel questions that he couldn't answer, and that were a waste of time speculating on, Alexander, moved South East a little more to keep his distance from the building and now the fenced area as well. Walking past a small group of the largest trees, or what remained of them anyway, as really all they could be called were dead wood still in it's natural state, that he had ever seen, ALexander stopped. Running his hand up against one, the texture of the bark of the tree amazed him, nothing like the few wooded items he had handled in the vault, nor like the few small decorative shrubs that grew in the arboretum.

A thin red flash to the East brought his mind back to focus, his hand leaving the tree and grabbing for his weapon. Dropping to his knees behind a rock a few feet from the tree, Alexander slowly peered around the edge of the rock, looking in the direction of the flash, just in time to see the red flash repeated, and again, one coming every second. Looking to see where the flash was originating, Alexander saw a small floating robot, much like the one he had seen on his first morning, the flashes appearing from a small protuberance under the main body. _"Wonder if that's the same one, or a different one_." He thought, swinging his gaze, trying to follow the flash to it's destination.

Seeing the red flashes target, Alexander's mouth hung open for a few seconds before he snapped it shut with an audible click. A flying segmented creature, "_Insect."_ Alexander's brain corrected having noticed the six legs, it had a green-brown carapace with an orange-red underside. From his position, about seventy meters away, Alexander watched, as the creature, "_Bloatfly."_ His brain supplied, remembering Crow's description, hovered for a second before thrusting it's lower half towards the robot, spraying a substance at it, repeating the movement a second time. It never got a third, as a red flash from the robot finally connected, and a red aurora surrounded the Bloatfly for an instant, and with the dispersal of the aurora, the Bloatfly was gone, a small pile of what looked like dust or ash floating in the air a moment, before dropping and floating away on the breeze.

"_Laser beams used as a weapon!" _Alexander thought, lasers not being common in the vault, with their use being restricted to a small device used for corrective eye surgery, and a larger couple used in the engineering sections for precision cutting of certain materials, activities restricted to highly experienced engineers or doctors such as his father.

The menace seemingly countered, the robot turned almost one hundred and eighty degrees, and floated off towards the South.

"_Amazing."_ Alexander thought, the image of the laser beams and the effect it had had on the Bloatfly bouncing around his head. "_I gotta get me one. I wonder if they ever made one to be used by humans? I'll have to ask Moira."_

After checking around for more Bloatflies, and finding none, Alexander quickly moved from his cover behind the rock to another, this one surrounded by a small circle of dead tree trunks, parallel to the North East corner of the building. This end of the building looked like it was more decrepit that the South end, with sunlight clearly showing through the windows of the second and third floors. This end was also slightly smaller that the other end, with the last third of it's length turning ninety degree's away from Alexander's position, and a wall running about twelve foot before returning to its North South orientation. Another of the large metal containers that Alexander had looked in at the rocket structure was situated against the last third of the wall, and Alexander made a note on his pipboy to remind him to check it out after his initial reconnaissance.

Making his way North, Alexander came to another drop off, with the expanse of water that he had seen from the top to the water tower on his first morning about two hundred meters in front of him. To his right he could see another of the steel power line suspenders, this one bent and broken near the middle, the top of it now resting on the ground, some of it covered in dirt and rocks. Moving carefully down the face of the drop off, and working his way West, Alexander found a decline, running North South, leading down towards the water. Passing over the decline to the cover afforded by a large pile of debris quickly, Alexander continued looking around the debris he was moving past, checking for dangers of which there were plenty. Loose slabs of concrete stuck out of the pile, as well as sheets of tin, lengths of steel, buckled and twisted as well as various loose objects that shifted under his feet. Finding a large slab of concrete sticking up out of the debris, the top of it uneven and broken, small ends of steel reinforcing rods poking out, Alexander settled in behind it, sitting with his back against it.

Pulling his bag around off his shoulder, and reaching inside for a water bottle, Alexander stared out over the water, the sunlight making it appear silver. Looking onto the other side of the expanse, he saw more of the elevated roadways, two sections of which had fallen down, their ends laying in the water.

Having had his fill of water, Alexander dropped the bottle back into his bag, and turning around to survey the building, saw that this end of it was indeed in far worse shape that the Southern end. A section of the wall was gone, evidenced in all the rubble and debris that Alexander was hiding behind, and the piles around the opening in it. From his position he could see that most there was no roof anymore, and that the two levels that were above the ground floor were also mostly gone, only a small lip running around the West and South walls, though there was a door that still looked whole on the second level above ground, Alexander couldn't see a viable way to get to it from where he was. To the left of the hole in the wall was another of those large metal containers, this one with a lid on it, next to a strange looking two wheeled vehicle. The vehicle looked complete, but the wheels were one in front of the other, something that Alexander had never seen or heard of. Standing and continuing his circuit, as Alexander was about to move off his peripheral vision caught something. _"Movement!" _He though, dropping to a crouch back behind the slab of concrete, his heart hammering with an adrenalin rush.

Slowly and carefully, ready to jerk back, Alexander stuck his head past the side of the slab. Looking through the gaps in the wall and windows in the wall to his left, Alexander didn't see anything. Not moving, as he knew movement would draw attention he kept his eyes scanning the area where the movement came from. After a few minutes, without being able to see anything, Alexander was feeling a little better, and wondering what, if anything he had actually seen. At that moment, a black bird took flight, rising from about the area where the movement had been, drawing a sigh of relief from Alexander. Putting his weapon back in it's holster, impressed at the way he had drawn it without thought, and also the speed with which it had appeared, Alexander moved in a crouching posture, overly cautious now, and started swinging around to the West.

Rounding a large pile of debris, Alexander found himself walking through another children's playground, this one with a red rocket ship, smaller than the other he had seen, but still big enough for a child to fit into. Looking ahead, he could see yet another vehicle, this one a car, and a covered area in front of the building, about in the middle of the wall, a large pile of debris on his side of it. A fence run North South along the bottom of a ten foot rock wall, and a small clear natural path led up to the top of the rock wall at the end of the fence line, which Alexander took off for, thinking the higher ground would afford the best view.

Arriving at the top of the path, and although that the movement he had seen had been a bird, still wary because it just might not have been what he had seen, moved in a crouch between two large tree trunks, stopping at the Southern most one, and leaning his back against it until he got his breath back. Turning to look at the building, Alexander was surprised to see that he was probably a little less than one hundred meters from Silver's house, which must have been about two hundred from the front of the building.

"_I wonder if she's home yet?"_ Alexander thought. "_Might as well check, I'm this close."_ And having a slow deliberate look at the Northern end of the building where the movement had been and seeing nothing, took off for the house, running flat out over the intervening distance.

Coming to a stop behind the house, Alexander realized his mistake, "_This isn't Silver's place."_ He thought to himself, the building was too far away from the rock face behind it, and it was actually completely boarded up, planks attached to the walls in front of the door. A quick look South told the tale, "_Idiot,"_ He said to himself, "_I should have known it was too close, I saw the building from her place and it was five hundred meters away."_

Peering around the corner of the house and looking at the building, Alexander was suddenly aware of a noise that wasn't the pounding of blood in his ears, a whiffling, snuffling sound, mixed somehow with a low growl coming from behind him. Slowly turning, his hand moved to his holster on his right hip and gripped his gun, keeping his body between the holster and whatever it was that had been making the nose.

A creature, about two foot high to the backbone was standing about twelve feet away. "_What the hell?_" Alexander thought. "_What the friggen hell is that?"_

The creature had pink-orange skin, with brown and black striations covering it's body, and the strangest looking head, fronted by wisps of stiff hair. The lower jaw seemed far too thin, and barely looked like it's skin was covering it's mandible bone. Teeth, two each on the top about five inches long, and two on the lower jaw about two or three inches long were the next thing to demand attention from Alexander's brain. "_Shit, Shit, those teeth don't look good."_ He thought.

Four stumpy legs seemed anatomically correct in their positioning, looking well developed for muscles, and each had four toes, each toe tipped with at least an inch of claw. Interestingly, a part of Alexander's brain cataloged, the rear toes looked like they had a single opposable digit. It's ear holes and nostrils seemed to be just holes, with no characteristics normally associated with those orifices. The eyes were brown, and deeply set, a large bone ridge surrounding the entire orb. A think stumpy tail, topped by a few wisps of a vary course looking hair completed the picture.

"Ok, easy now," Alexander spoke soothingly, backing away slowly, his Glock in his hand and hanging by his side. "Easy, easy." He continued, trying to put as much distance between himself and the creature. The creature was slowly following Alexander, the snuffling noise seemed to be it's breathing, Alexander noted, still backing away. "Easy now boy, easy now." Alexander repeated over and over like a mantra, hoping the creature would leave on it's own accord.

Suddenly the creature paused, and crouching it's back legs, the snuffling growling noise increasing in tempo before it explosively sprung at Alexander's chest, covering at least five feet with it's leap, those yellow-brown teeth snapping filled his vision. Reacting as quickly as he could, Alexander pulled his right arm up, keeping his elbow bent, and pulled the trigger, the weapon discharging and recoiling. The creature hit Alexander in the chest with it's full body weight, and they both went down, Alexander on his back with the creature on top of him, his helmet bouncing painfully off the dirt underneath him, his gun clattering away.

Yelling incoherently, Alexander tried pushing the creature away with his left hand, his right lashing out with his best haymaker, hitting the creature in the side of the head. The creature rolled off him with the force of the blow, landing on it's right hand side. Scrambling frantically on all fours to where his gun had ended up, Alexander grabbed it and spun around, holding the gun in both hands at full reach.

The creature was laying where it had landed, not moving, and after ten or so seconds, Alexander crawled towards it, his right arm still extended, gun trained on its head. Reaching the creature, Alexander shakily examined it, noting where his bullet had hit it, a small hole just off center of it's chest on the right hand side. "_Damn!"_ Alexander thought, panting slightly. "_Mole Rat."_ Was his next thought, based on Crow's description's, and looking at the creature on the ground in front of him, Alexander wondered if he could ever stomach the thought of eating anything that included Mole Rat as an ingredient again. The creature had a peculiar smell, Earthy with a slight rotten undertone, unpleasant and yet sweetish at the same time.

Scanning around to make sure there were no more surprises, and finding none, Alexander re-holstered his weapon, and returned to the corner of the house and peered around at the building again. Unfortunately Alexander found his line of sight to the school building was blocked by the burnt out shell of a house, set just to the right of the on he was behind. Moving slowly, still recovering his mental and physical balance after his run in with his first live mole rat, he moved to the right hand side of the burned out house, using the walls that were at least semi intact as cover.

Looking around the Southern end of the burnt out house, Alexander noted that he had completed his circuit, and was now looking at the red sign that was on the corner where he had started. Moving North along the wall, and looking around that corner at the school building, Alexander saw the covered area just in front of the building. Now that the large pile of debris next to the covering was not obstructing his view, Alexander saw a pair of double doors, that must have been the front entrance, given that he had seen no others on an outside wall.

"_Right, thank God, doesn't seem to be anyone around. Still, will have to check on that end,"_ Alexander thought, looking at the ruined end of the building. "_Might make for that end first anyway, check that door, see if I can't get in that way."_ He thought, surmising that the front entrance would be obvious, and that the obvious was to be avoided in the wasteland.

To the South West, in the direction of Silver's house, judging from the location of the sign on the corner, and that when looking from Silver's house, the school building had been to the North East, Alexander saw yet another burnt out house on top of a small rise, about fifty meters away. Moving off in that direction, he soon came to the house, and rounding the corner saw Silver's house, which he was sure of this time, it's location up close to the rock wall behind it confirmation.

Close now, Alexander broke into a quick sprint, closing the distance as quickly as possible, and arriving at the low wall that had been built around the back door, hurdled it in his stride. Coming to a stop next to the door to Silver's house, puffing slightly, he leaned against the wall pausing to regain his breath. _"Never had to move like this in the damn vault."_ He thought, aware that though he was reasonably fit, the mental stress as well as the physical of the last two hours had taken it's toll on him.

"Silver, are you there?" Alexander called out while knocking with one hand on the door, and twisting the handle with the other, the door again opening easily. "_Guess not."_ He thought to himself, walking inside. A quick look at the end of the room proved fruitless, and after poking his head through to the other room, and seeing it in the same state as he had earlier, Alexander concluded that Silver still hadn't been home in the just over two hours since he had last been to her house.

Moving to the table, and taking the seat he had the first time he had been here, with his back to the oven, facing both doors, the one with the blocks piled in front of it, and the one to the other room, Alexander pulled his water bottle out, and drained the last quarter or so of the liquid. Checking his pipboy for the time, "_Twelve thirty nine." _Alexander regretted not buying something from Andy Stahl that morning, no matter his attitude, as his stomach was feeling decidedly empty.

Alexander spent the next ten minutes contemplating weather to wait for Silver to come back, or to continue with his original goal of searching through the old school building. During this time, his stomach let him know it really needed food, so Alexander stood up, and moving to the bench set on the wall between the two rooms, started opening the doors underneath it, searching for something to quell his hunger. The first door opened showed him two shelves, both stacked neatly with four plates, and three mugs, as well a five glass's, one of which had a few knifes, forks and spoons in standing in it.

Opening the second, Alexander experienced a stab of homesickness for the vault. Stacked two high and three rows deep, were the familiar blue packets of Cram. Cram was one of the few food items left in the vault from before the war, and although supplies in the vault had been running low, and the last decade had seen reduced amounts of it on the weekly menu, it was still a familiar. Staring for a few moments, lost in memories of the vault, "_When did we last have Cram in the vault?"_ Alexander wondered before mentally moving forward. "_Should be enough here for me to have one packet," _He thought, and reaching in, grabbed a single packet. Returning to the first door, and retrieving a fork, Alexander sat back down at the table.

The two flaps that made up the lid were already lose, so flipping them open, Alexander tipped the box upside down, positioning his hand underneath to catch the tin container inside it as it slipped out. Putting the box on top of the greasy plate, Alexander dug in his bag for one of his bottles of whisky, leaving it next to the plate in payment in case he didn't see Silver before she returned. Grabbing the ring pull on top of the can, Alexander pulled it up, and to his dismay, the pull parted company with the lid.

_"Shit."_ He swore to himself, putting the can back down and turning to his pipboy. Pressing a couple of buttons on the touch screen a small, inch by inch doorway on the sleeve of the pipboy, located on the underside of his forearm, sprung open and retreated back into the sleeve, exposing a compartment that was just big enough for his vault pocket knife to fit in, a compartment where most of the vault boys kept theirs.

Dropping his arm, the knife slid out, and with practiced ease, Alexander twisted his wrist and caught the knife as it slid out. Unfolding the tin opener attachment, Alexander made quick work of removing the lid, peeling it back and snapping it off with a couple of flexes. Picking up the fork, Alexander was soon attacking his meal with relish.

After finishing his meal of Silver's Cram, replacing his knife in his pipboy, and closing the compartment behind it, Alexander decided that it was time to move, "_I'll come back in a couple of hours, Silver should be home by then, and if she isn't I should still be able to make it back to Megaton in time to get a space in the commons." _He thought, moving to the back door, and going outside.

Turning North and setting off, Alexander kept to cover, passing by the hulk of a vehicle, and heading for the house where the mole rat had attacked him. Moving down the side of the house, keeping the burnt out house between himself and the building, Alexander paused at the corner considering. "_Run for the wall from here, or back around where the gap is in the North wall?" _Looking around and seeing no movement, Alexander thought about the movement he'd seen earlier. "_A headlong dash straight in is probably not a good idea."_ He thought, and after having another quick look around, sprinted from his position towards the pile of rubble just to the left of the doors, not stopping until the pile was between himself and the doors, and he was pressed against the wall.

Turning to his right, Alexander began to make his way along the wall, stepping over sheets of tin, lengths of twisted metal, reinforcing bar jutting out from broken slabs of concrete and other assorted debris piles. Coming to the corner, Alexander paused, collecting himself and drawing his Glock 20, before slowly sticking his head around the corner.

Alexander first saw a set of stairs leading up towards the door on the second level. "_Check that out first."_ He though, eyes still scanning. Desks and chairs, of a different style than those of the vault littered the area to the left of the gap in the wall. A small section of the second level was still visible on the Eastern wall, where the movement that Alexander saw earlier came from, and as he couldn't see any means of getting there, he thought, "_Well at least it looks like it might have just been a bird."_

Leaning a little further out, Alexander was able to see that the floor of the ground level had collapsed, revealing a level below ground. "_Basement, they called it."_ His mind supplied, noting that there were two declines down in to it, one in front of him, and one opposite, though the one opposite lead to a blank wall, "_Might be possible to use that to get to the stairs to the doorway,"_ he thought, as the rubble made a ramp up to the opposite side of the large gap where the ground floor had collapsed, cutting off access to the stairs.

Stepping up from his crouching position, Alexander moved from the corner along the short distance to the gap, meaning to make his way down the decline and up the other incline, and was level with the gap in the wall, when a fist planted itself into his abdominal region.

Clutching his stomach and stumbling back a few steps, his weapon clattering away to his left, Alexander saw a man rising from where he had been crouched behind the wall, his hair, such as it was, cut in a pattern that left a thin, two inch strip down the middle of his scalp, the sides shaved, with stubble visible. The mans eyes were blood shot and wild, the whites making the red lines stand out like beacons.

Recovering as best he could, stumbling backwards and shucking his bag and throwing dropping at the base of the wall he had been hidden behind, and tying to raise a defensive posture Alexander prepared himself as the man, wearing a strange amalgamation of Brahmin skin leather and sheets of metal and thin roughly metal attached to the leather by means of thin straps, and giggling to himself advanced on him.

Willing himself to wait until the right moment, Alexander's left arm jabbed out twice in quick succession, catching the man on his chin and lower lip, before swinging his right around and connecting with the mans left cheek, rocking his head to the right.

Turning his head back to face Alexander, still giggling softly, though now with a thin dribble of blood seeping from his mouth the man seemed unfazed by the hits. "_Damn me," _Alexander thought, "_He's so drugged he can't feel pain."_

The thought had only just finished when the man suddenly exploded into action, leaping forward, hands grabbing for Alexander. Grabbing Alexander by the dirty shirt he had over his jump suit, the man half turned, dragging Alexander and propelling him into the wall to the left of the gap, his shirt ripping down the front.

Stumbling on a piece of concrete during his enforced trip towards the wall, Alexander threw his arms out, trying to take some of the force out of the upcoming impact, but still hit the wall with a crunch, his forehead bouncing inside his helmet when his arms couldn't prevent his forward momentum. Groggy now, and desperately shaking his head to try and regain his senses, Alexander saw another man advancing up the incline that led down to the basement section, a long pool cue in his hands raised as a club.

Spying his weapon only a few feet from where he had been propelled, Alexander dived for it, crashing to the ground on his right hand side, the impact forcing an expulsion of air, but not disrupting his focus. Closing his hand on the gun and bringing it around, aiming for the newer arrival, his sight lined up just as the man swung his pool cue. The end of the cue connecting with the barrel of Alexander's Glock, flinging the weapon out of his hand off to his left, the weapon discharge missing the man in front of him as he drew the cue back, and swinging it in an overhead motion, crashed it onto the helmeted head of Alexander, already laying prone.

Stars exploding in his vision, Alexander felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, and blackness enveloped him, the last thing he heard was someone yelling. "Wez, get the fuck up here, and go get the boss you fucken lazy asshole."

OOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOO


End file.
